Jump to content

Search the hub

Showing results for tags 'Influenza / pneumonia'.


More search options

  • Search By Tags

    Start to type the tag you want to use, then select from the list.

  • Search By Author

Content Type


Forums

  • All
    • Commissioning, service provision and innovation in health and care
    • Coronavirus (COVID-19)
    • Culture
    • Digital health and care service provision
    • Improving patient safety
    • Investigations, risk management and legal issues
    • Leadership for patient safety
    • Organisations linked to patient safety (UK and beyond)
    • Patient engagement
    • Patient safety in health and care
    • Patient Safety Learning
    • Professionalising patient safety
    • Research, data and insight
    • Miscellaneous

Categories

  • Commissioning, service provision and innovation in health and care
    • Commissioning and funding patient safety
    • Health records and plans
    • Innovation programmes in health and care
    • Climate change/sustainability
  • Coronavirus (COVID-19)
    • Blogs
    • Data, research and statistics
    • Frontline insights during the pandemic
    • Good practice and useful resources
    • Guidance
    • Mental health
    • Exit strategies
    • Patient recovery
    • Questions around Government governance
  • Culture
    • Bullying and fear
    • Good practice
    • Occupational health and safety
    • Safety culture programmes
    • Second victim
    • Speak Up Guardians
    • Staff safety
    • Whistle blowing
  • Digital health and care service provision
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Apps for health and care
    • Teleservices
    • Other health and care software
    • Digital health regulatory bodies/standards/guidance
  • Improving patient safety
    • Clinical governance and audits
    • Design for safety
    • Disasters averted/near misses
    • Equipment and facilities
    • Error traps
    • Health inequalities
    • Human factors (improving human performance in care delivery)
    • Improving systems of care
    • Implementation of improvements
    • International development and humanitarian
    • Patient Safety Alerts
    • Safety stories
    • Stories from the front line
    • Transformative Simulation
    • Workforce and resources
  • Investigations, risk management and legal issues
    • Investigations and complaints
    • Risk management and legal issues
  • Leadership for patient safety
    • Business case for patient safety
    • Boards
    • Clinical leadership
    • Exec teams
    • Inquiries
    • International reports
    • National/Governmental
    • Patient Safety Commissioner
    • Quality and safety reports
    • Techniques
    • Other
  • Organisations linked to patient safety (UK and beyond)
    • Government and ALB direction and guidance
    • International patient safety
    • Regulators and their regulations
  • Patient engagement
    • Consent and privacy
    • Harmed care patient pathways/post-incident pathways
    • How to engage for patient safety
    • Keeping patients safe
    • Patient-centred care
    • Patient Safety Partners
    • Patient stories
  • Patient safety in health and care
    • Care settings
    • Conditions
    • Diagnosis
    • High risk areas
    • Learning disabilities
    • Medication
    • Mental health
    • Men's health
    • Patient management
    • Social care
    • Transitions of care
    • Women's health
  • Patient Safety Learning
    • Patient Safety Learning documents
    • Patient Safety Standards
    • 2-minute Tuesdays
    • Patient Safety Learning Annual Conference 2019
    • Patient Safety Learning Annual Conference 2018
    • Patient Safety Learning Awards 2019
    • Patient Safety Learning Interviews
    • Patient Safety Learning webinars
  • Professionalising patient safety
    • Accreditation for patient safety
    • Competency framework
    • Medical students
    • Patient safety standards
    • Training & education
  • Research, data and insight
  • Miscellaneous

News

  • News

Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start
    End

Last updated

  • Start
    End

Filter by number of...

Joined

  • Start

    End


Group


First name


Last name


Country


About me


Organisation


Role

Found 69 results
  1. News Article
    The health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, faced intense questioning from several US senators on Wednesday during a hearing largely focused on how the administration has responded to the measles outbreak and the spread of vaccine misinformation. In his opening remarks to the Senate finance committee, the senator Ron Wyden criticizsed Kennedy’s messaging on vaccines, saying: “When it comes to vaccines, Robert Kennedy has used this once-in-a-lifetime platform to make parents doubt themselves and doubt their doctors,” before adding: “The secretary has ducked, bobbed and weaved without taking the responsibility of saying what needs to be said: vaccines save lives in America.” Tensions rose when the discussion turned to the measles outbreak, with Wyden challenging Kennedy directly over his long-held views on vaccines. Kennedy has consistently sought to separate himself from responsibility for the outbreak during recent Capitol Hill appearances. Public health specialists have argued that Kennedy failed to strongly promote vaccination and instead highlighted unproven treatments such as steroids while the virus spread across state lines. Kennedy, however, maintained that the US managed the outbreak more effectively than any other nation, noting that Mexico and Canada reported higher numbers of cases. “I had nothing to do with the measles outbreak here,” he reiterated. “We have limited our outbreak better than any country in the world.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 22 April 2026
  2. News Article
    Christmas gatherings may have caused a resurgence in flu and other winter viruses, NHS leaders say. Figures show that the average number of patients in hospital beds in England with flu last week hit 2,924 - a rise of 9% on the previous week. This comes after two weeks of falls which prompted hope cases may have peaked. NHS England said a combination of the vicious cold snap and winter viruses was making services "extremely busy" with hospitals reporting icy conditions have led to a rise in slips and falls and people struggling with respiratory conditions. Concerns are also being raised about corridor care - where A&E patients are treated in make-shift areas because of a lack of beds. Read full article. Source: BBC News, 8 January 2026
  3. News Article
    A surge in flu cases will present the NHS with a challenge "unlike any it has seen since the pandemic", Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said. Writing in the Times, Streeting said the NHS was in a "precarious situation", and warned that next week's planned strikes by resident doctors could be the "Jenga piece that collapses the tower". The number of patients in hospital with influenza has risen more than 50% in the past week, with officials warning there is still no sign of it peaking yet. In the week up to Sunday there were 2,660 flu cases a day on average in hospital, which NHS England said was the equivalent of having three hospitals full of flu patients. Read full article. Source: BBC News, 11 December 2025
  4. News Article
    Fewer than one in 10 frontline NHS staff have been vaccinated at some trusts, despite public appeals from NHS England ahead of this winter. Data from the UK Health Security Agency says that fewer than a third – 29.7 per cent – of frontline NHS staff in England have received this year’s flu vaccination. Flu vaccination rates are fewer than one in five at 21 English NHS trusts, and at West London Trust, Croydon Health Services Trust, and Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust – uptake was at just one in 10 or fewer. Lewisham and Greenwich Trust had a similarly low uptake according to the UKHSA data, but the trust has said its rates are in fact much higher. Read full article (paywalled). Source: Health Service Journal, 5 December 2025.
  5. News Article
    The number of flu patients in hospital has hit a record high in England for this time of year with NHS leaders warning the country is facing an unprecedented flu season. NHS figures show there were an average of 1,700 patients in hospital with flu last week - that is more than 50% higher than the same time last year - and early indications from this week are that hospitalisations have continued climbing sharply since. It comes as the flu season hit a month earlier than normal this year, with experts warning there appears to be a more severe strain of the virus circulating. England's chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty has warned the NHS must take diseases like pneumonia and flu in older people much more seriously to save lives. Read full article. Source: BBC News, 4 December 2025
  6. News Article
    The UK's winter flu season has begun five weeks earlier than usual, health officials are warning. The UK Health Security Agency said cases were rising quickly among children and young people – and warned the virus would soon start to spread across older age groups. The organisation urged people eligible for the flu vaccine to come forward to get protected. But they said it was too early to say how difficult and serious this year's flu season would be. One of the concerns is that the flu season could peak before the majority of the vulnerable groups have got immunised - the vaccination campaign has only been running a few weeks. Two of the worst winter flu seasons of the past decade have been seen in the last three years, something partly attributed to the bounce-back of the virus after Covid restrictions and when immunity has been low. Last year nearly 8,000 people died from flu and in the 2022-23 flu season there were nearly 16,000 deaths. Read full article. Source: BBC News, 30 October 2025
  7. News Article
    At least 216 children have died of influenza in the US during the last flu season in what the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said was classified as the first high severity season overall and for all age groups since 2017-2018. That number marks the highest pediatric death toll in 15 years; the previous high reported for a regular (non-pandemic) season was 236 pediatric deaths in the 2009-2010 season, according to the CDC. More recently, 207 paediatric deaths were reported during the 2023-2024 season. The high number of paediatric fatalities reported for the past flu season comes as health authorities in New York said that 25 children in the state had succumbed to influenza-associated paediatric deaths – the highest recorded amount ever in New York. “As we begin to analyze the data from the 2024-2025 influenza season, we see this flu season was a challenging flu season for all, yet particularly for children,” said New York state’s health commissioner, Dr James McDonald. The health commissioner warned that “misinformation around vaccines has in recent years contributed to a rise in vaccine hesitancy and declining vaccination rates”. Of the 25 pediatric deaths attributed to flu, only one involved a vaccinated child and five were below six-month age minimum to receive the flu vaccine. “We live in a challenging time, where honest objective information is sometimes blurred by misinformation – therefore, it remains the department’s goal to continue to provide as much education and information as possible about flu and other vaccines that remain our best protection against many viruses and preventable diseases,” McDonald said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 8 May 2025
  8. News Article
    The Trump administration has cancelled a meeting of scientific experts called to discuss next winter’s flu shots in a move that has underscored fears of emerging anti-vaccine polices under the new health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which Kennedy oversees, notified members of its vaccines and related biological products advisory committee on Thursday that the next meeting scheduled for 13 March was cancelled without providing an explanation. No new date was set for a meeting and scientists warned that the cancellation risked undermining the development of flu vaccines for next year. The committee was due to discuss the development of appropriate vaccine for combatting expected prevalent influenza strains next year, using data provided by the World Health Organization, from which the US recently withdrew, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Committee members were given no advance notice that the meeting, which is held in late February or late March every year, was to be called off. “We’re all left trying to understand what is going on. Why was this meeting cancelled? It’s an important meeting. What’s the plan for flu vaccines this year,” Paul Offit, a committee member and director of the vaccine education centre at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told CBS. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 27 February 2025
  9. News Article
    While the US declared its intention to leave the World Health Organization (WHO) on 20 January, the process of severing ties with the international public health body formally takes one year. Yet US health agencies have already retreated from nearly all coordinated global health efforts around influenza surveillance. The move could jeopardise the efficacy of the next batch of flu vaccines both for the US and the rest of the world. This comes as the US is in the midst of its most severe flu season in 15 years. At least 29 million people in the country have caught the illness since October and roughly 16,000 have died from it – and the season is only half over. Numerous factors are probably behind the surge, including lower vaccination rates, says Erin Sorrell at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. All of this underscores the importance of an upcoming WHO meeting. Scheduled for 28 February, the meeting will bring together influenza experts from around the world to select which strains the next flu shot will target. The decision is based on influenza samples collected from 151 national laboratories across 127 countries. These samples are then further analysed at WHO collaborating centres to characterise how the virus spreads, evolves and interacts with vaccines and other treatments. These seven collaborating centres, two of which are based in the US, play a major role in global influenza surveillance and response preparedness, says Maria Van Kerkhove at WHO. The trouble is, the US centres stopped communicating with WHO. WHO is currently working with other collaborating centres to fill the information gap left by the US, says Van Kerkhove. The halt in US communication shouldn’t impact the WHO’s ability to develop an effective flu vaccine for next season, she says. But it will certainly make it more challenging to do so in the future. It will also have ramifications for US public health. “We don’t get to provide our input on strains that we are most concerned about in the US and discuss mutations that we are observing here. Our technical experts, who are some of the best in the world, are not able to contribute to that conversation,” says Sorrell. “So, we are not only putting the world at a disadvantage, but absolutely the average American who would be looking to be vaccinated next year against seasonal flu.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The New Scientist, 21 February 2025
  10. News Article
    Outpatient visits have surged to their highest levels since the peak of the 2009 swine flu pandemic, with influenza-related emergency department visits remaining very high across the US. Notably, flu-related outpatient vists are now at their highest point since 2009, with 7.8% of visits for inflenza in the week ending 1 February 2025. Nineteen states reported high respiratory virus activity and thirteen states reported very high activity. The CDC reported that flu test positivity has risen to 31.6%, while COVID-19 positivity decreased to 4.9% and RSV positivity decreased to 6.6%. Emergency department visits for influenza remained very high, while visits for Covid-19 were low and RSV-related visits were moderate. Vaccination coverage for both COVID-19 and influenza remained low, and RSV vaccine uptake is also notably low for both children and adults. Read full story Source: Becker's Clinical Leadership, 11 February 2025
  11. News Article
    Medics have welcomed clarification from health officials over when the upcoming flu and Covid-19 vaccination programme will begin. NHS England had been criticised for pushing back the start date a month with pharmacists saying the change of plan would likely “catch patients off guard”. While school-aged children will be able to receive the flu shot from 1 September, adults were not expected to start getting flu and Covid jabs until October, a month later than recent years. Officials briefed that the later start time was so sites can co-administer both vaccines wherever possible, to make it more convenient, and to ensure protection in later winter months – typically when viruses are more likely to spread. But NHS England was criticised for a lack of transparency and communication, as healthcare teams had been preparing to provide the service as usual from September. NHS England said to maximise and extend protection during the winter and through the period of greatest risk in December and early January 2024, care home residents and care home staff must start receiving their jabs from 2 October, and other eligible flu and Covid cohorts from 7 October. However, in updated guidance officials said that as some firm commitments and appointments have already been made, any patient wishing to receive their vaccination in September will be allowed to do so. Most people are still likely to have their vaccines in October, officials believe. Responding to news that NHS England will, if needed, now allow practices to deliver both vaccination programmes from September rather than October, Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer, chair of GPC England at the British Medical Association (BMA), said: “This news is very welcome, coming after the BMA made clear yesterday to NHS England that shifting the entire programme at the last minute to October would not only cause widespread confusion, but also serious disruption as flu clinics would have to be rearranged to fit the new timetable." Read full story Source: inews, 11 August 2023
  12. News Article
    The NHS could struggle to cope with a catastrophic flu season after leading medics warned of plunging flu vaccine uptake among its frontline staff. NHS figures show just 39% of frontline staff had a flu vaccine in November, down from 52% in November 2020. The worrying statistics mean the already under-strain service could lose crucial staff to illnesses and risk spreading the virus during its busiest winter period. Speaking to The Independent, Dr Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine said: “We are concerned about staff vaccination against flu. Post-pandemic, there is a certain lack of appetite and there is probably a degree of apathy about staff getting vaccinated against flu, and we think that’s a problem. “We need to be doing more to get stuff vaccinated against flu.” He added: “I think societally and as healthcare practitioners, I think we have a moral duty to get ourselves vaccinated so we don't create gaps by going off sick and we don't infect our patients.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 21 December 2023
  13. News Article
    People who have been hospitalised with flu are at an increased risk of longer-term health problems, similar to those with long Covid, data suggests. While the symptoms associated with such “long flu” appear to be more focused on the lungs than ongoing Covid symptoms, in both cases the risk of death and disability was greater in the months after infection than in the first 30 days. “It is very clear that long flu is worse than the flu, and Long Covid is worse than Covid,” said Dr Ziyad Al-Aly, a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, who led the research. He was motivated to study the phenomenon after observing the scale of long-term illness experienced by people who have recovered from Covid. “Five years ago, it wouldn’t have occurred to me to examine the possibility of a ‘long flu.’ But one of the major lessons we learned from this pandemic is that a virus we all initially thought could only cause acute disease is leaving millions of people with long Covid, he said. “We wondered whether this could be happening with other things. Could this be happening with the flu, for example?” The research, published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases, found that while Covid patients faced a greater risk of death or hospital readmission in the following 18 months, both infections carried a significant risk of ongoing disability and disease. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 14 December 2023
  14. News Article
    NHS leaders have issued a warning over surging flu cases as the number of patients in hospital with the bug soared by more than 50% in a week. An average of 234 people were in hospital with flu each day last week – up 53% on the previous seven days. Figures from NHS England also showed a rise in norovirus cases in hospitals last week with an average of 406 cases per day, up from 351 the previous week and a 28% rise from last year. The latest data comes after public health officials sent a warning over whooping cough levels, with 719 suspected cases reported between July and November, up from 217 last year. This week several NHS hospitals have sent out alerts to the public warning of “extremely busy” A&Es. Dr Tim Cooksley, former president of the Society for Acute Medicine, warned: “Pressures are being exacerbated by increasing rates of sickness among colleagues, as well as pressures on precious resources such as isolation areas and side rooms, adding to the strain on already overstretched services... “Undoubtedly we will see more older patients enduring prolonged degrading periods of corridor care and many people experiencing difficult symptoms whilst they sit on elective waiting lists. “Most hospitals are already experiencing chaotic and dangerous scenarios.” He added that there was “a lack of understanding of the gravity of the situation” from new health secretary Victoria Atkins. Read full story Source: The Independent, 7 December 2023
  15. News Article
    Matt Hancock has called for British people to routinely get tested for the flu, saying covid diagnostic capacity should be kept and used for “everything” once the pandemic dies down. Speaking at the Commons health and social care committee this morning, the health and social care secretary said the nation “must hold on to” the mass diagnostic capacity it has created for coronavirus. Going further, he called for a change in culture to one of “if in doubt, you get a test”, and for a long-term expansion of diagnostics. Mr Hancock said: “Why in Britain do we think it’s acceptable to solider on when you have flu symptoms or a runny nose, and go in [to work] and make everyone ill? “If you have flu-like symptoms you should have a test for it and find out what is wrong with you and stay at home. We are peculiar outliers in soldiering on and going to work and that… culture, that should change.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 24 November 2020
  16. News Article
    People aged 50 to 64 in England will be able to get a free flu jab from 1 December in an attempt to fight the "twin threats" of flu and COVID-19. The group has been added to a list of people who are already eligible for a flu jab in England, such as those over 65 and health and social care workers. Thirty million people are being offered the vaccine in England's largest flu-immunisation programme to date. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said it was a winter "like no other". "We have to worry about the twin threats of flu and COVID-19," he said, adding that the coronavirus pandemic meant it was "more important than ever" that people got their flu jabs. Mr Hancock told BBC Breakfast that all over 50s would be able to get the vaccine by January. Read full story Source: BBC News, 20 November 2020
  17. News Article
    The NHS has erroneously written to thousands of patients who have had glandular fever in the past asking them to get a flu jab from their GP. The error left some GPs with practice phone lines blocked last week while reception staff have had to explain to patients they are not actually eligible for free flu vaccination. Nearly 40,000 letters were sent out to patients with a past history indicating glandular fever because of a coding error at NHS Digital. This was meant to identify patients with suppressed immune systems which would include those who currently have glandular fever and encourage them to contact their GP practice to arrange vaccination. However, the historical cases were not excluded, leading to the letters being automatically generated even when the glandular fever diagnosis was decades old. When NHS Digital realised the error, it contacted NHS England – which was responsible for posting out the letters – and managed to stop others being sent out. An NHS Digital spokesman said: “During a process to identify patients eligible for a flu vaccination, glandular fever was incorrectly included in a complex list of conditions that cause persistent immunosuppression. This led to some patients incorrectly receiving a letter encouraging them to seek a flu vaccination. “There has been no adverse clinical impact for patients and the issue was quickly resolved before the majority of letters were sent.” NHSD said patients who had received the letter would receive another one to explain and to reassure them." Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 4 November 2020
  18. News Article
    A wider range of healthcare workers—including midwives, paramedics, physiotherapists, and pharmacists—are now allowed to give flu and potentially COVID-19 vaccines after the introduction of new laws by the UK government. The changes to the Human Medicines Regulations 2012, first proposed in August1 and consulted upon last month, came into effect on 16 October. The Department of Health and Social Care said that the expanded workforce will have to undergo additional training to ensure patient safety. It added that government planning will “ensure this does not affect other services in hospitals and in GP and community services, by drawing on a pool of experienced NHS professionals through the NHS Bring Back Scheme.” Commenting on the changes, England’s deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam said, “The measures outlined today aim to improve access and strengthen existing safeguards protecting patients.” Read full story Source: BMJ, 16 October 2020
  19. News Article
    All pregnant women have been urged by doctors to get a free flu vaccination this winter to ensure they and their babies are protected. People can get infected with flu and coronavirus at the same time - with Public Health England finding if you get both simultaneously you may get more seriously ill. Researchers previously said those who have been infected with both viruses face a serious increase to their risk of death and warned the public “not to be complacent” in the wake of fears flu could circulate around the country alongside COVID-19. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and Royal College of Midwives note while getting flu is not a big deal for most people, getting the virus while you are pregnant can be serious for a small proportion of women and their babies. Flu can occasionally lead to stillbirth, maternal death and raise the chances of having a miscarriage. Dr Edward Morris, president of RCOG, said: “We are keen to reassure pregnant women that flu vaccination is safe for women to have at any stage in pregnancy - from the first few weeks right up to their due date, and while breastfeeding." "Over the last 10 years, the flu vaccine has been routinely and safely offered to pregnant women in the UK. The vaccine can also pass some protection to babies, which lasts for the first months of their lives." Read full story Source: The Independent, 12 October 2020
  20. News Article
    Most people in England, about 30 million, are to be offered a free flu vaccine this year, the government says. It is to prepare for a winter that could see the annual flu season coincide with a surge in coronavirus. The traditional flu programme will include all over-50s for the first time, as well anyone on the shielding list and the people they live with. Also for the first time, children in their first year of secondary school will all be offered the vaccine. Plans for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have not yet been announced. Read full article here
  21. News Article
    Emergency attendances for several conditions are still well below their normal levels, despite a steady increase in overall activity since the peak of the coronavirus outbreak. Weekly data from Public Health England suggests overall A&E attendances increased to around 105,000 in the last week of May, which was an increase from 98,813 over the previous seven days. Data from the 77 A&E departments included in the research suggests that overall attendances are up to an average of 15,000 day, compared to around 10,000 at the peak of the pandemic and the long-term trend of just under 20,000. However, attendances for bronchitis, acute respiratory infections, respiratory, pneumonia, asthma, gastroenteritis are still far below their normal levels. It did not offer an explanation for why attendances for these conditions have remained low, while those for cardiac, influenza, myocardial Ischaemia, and gastrointestinal problems have returned to normal levels or above. Read full story Source: HSJ, 5 June 2020
  22. Content Article
    This Annual Quality Statement provides a summary of the work of Cardiff and Vale University Health Board in 2019-2020, with a particular focus on community mental health.
  23. News Article
    An outbreak of norovirus on hospital wards across the NHS has forced the closure of more than 1,100 beds in the last week. The news comes amid record numbers of patients turning up to emergency departments at some hospitals and higher than expected cases of flu. There are fears the dire situation could herald the start of a winter crisis for the NHS which is starting earlier than in previous years. Miriam Deakin, Director of Policy and Strategy at NHS Providers, which represents hospitals said: “We are going into what is traditionally the NHS’s busiest time with a health and care system already under severe demand pressure." “Patient safety is the top priority for trusts, but alongside high levels of staff vacancies, an outbreak of flu or norovirus could have a serious effect on the delivery of services.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 5 December 2019
  24. News Article
    A “critical” shortage of lung specialists may leave the NHS struggling to cope with a spike in hospital admissions related to complications of pneumonia and flu this winter, the British Thoracic Society (BTS) has warned. At its winter meeting this week (taking place 4-6 December), the society presented results from a survey it conducted of almost 250 UK NHS respiratory specialists. Some 83% of respondents (199) thought respiratory healthcare staff shortages would impair the ability of the NHS to cope with the increase in lung disease hospital admissions this winter. Read full story (paywalled) Source: BMJ, 4 December 2019
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.