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Found 35 results
  1. Content Article
    The only masking that’s going on is that of the government’s continued failure to get to grips with the virus, writes George Monbiot in this Guardian opinion piece. For some people, going to hospital may now be more dangerous than staying at home untreated. Many clinically vulnerable people fear, sometimes with good reason, that a visit to hospital or the doctors’ surgery could be the end of them. Of course, there have always been dangers where sick people gather. But, until now, health services have sought to minimise them. Astonishingly, this is often no longer the case. Across the UK, over the past two years, the NHS has been standing down even the most basic precautions against Covid-19. For example, staff in many surgeries and hospitals are no longer required to wear face masks in most clinical settings. Reassuring posters have appeared even in cancer wards, where patients might be severely immunocompromised. A notice, photographed and posted on social media last week, tells people that while they are “no longer required to wear a mask in this area”, they should use hand sanitiser “to protect our vulnerable patients, visitors and our staff”. Sanitising is good practice. But Covid-19 is an airborne virus, which spreads further and faster by exhalation than by touch.
  2. News Article
    A leaked government report suggests a "reasonable worst case scenario" of 85,000 deaths across the UK this winter due to COVID-19. The document also says while more restrictions could be re-introduced, schools would likely remain open. But it says the report "is a scenario, not a prediction" and the data are subject to "significant uncertainty". However some are critical of the modelling and say some of it is already out of date. The document, which has been seen by BBC Newsnight, was prepared for the government by the Sage scientific advisory group, which aims to help the NHS and local authorities plan services, such as mortuaries and burial services, for the winter months ahead. Read full story Source: BBC News, 29 August 2020
  3. News Article
    Demand for oxygen from COVID-19 patients recovering at home is set to place the NHS under strain, the health service has warned. NHS England has issued guidance to out-of-hospital health providers on the extra demands likely to be placed on them given the number of people recovering after a hospital stay with the coronavirus. It warns that the provision from its home oxygen services and community respiratory teams across the NHS is expected to be an issue as the scale of demand increases. Andrew Whittamore, a practising GP and clinical lead for the Asthma UK and British Lung Foundation partnership, said concerns about the potential for hospitals to be overwhelmed in the early part of the pandemic had led to community oxygen teams being primed to take on more patients – but he described that ramping up as “a short-term fix”. “We don’t know how long people are going to need oxygen or other services for,” he said. “There are definitely going to be extra patients added on to our community teams’ workloads.” The Taskforce for Lung Health – of which the British Lung Foundation is a member – has raised particular concerns about access to pulmonary rehabilitation. An education- and exercise-based treatment, which is proven to be more effective for lung patients than many drug-based treatments, and face-to-face classes have been suspended during the pandemic. It may be that such treatment would also be helpful for some patients recovering from COVID-19. Jackie Eagleton, policy officer at the British Lung Foundation, said there had been issues with access to pulmonary rehabilitation for a long time, but the need to offer this form of support to people with lung conditions “has never been more pressing than it is now”. Read full story Source: The Independent, 16 June 2020
  4. News Article
    The UK's organ transplant network could be forced to shut down as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, the body that runs the scheme is warning. One factor is the pressure on intensive care beds, according to NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT). But there is also the risk to transplant patients, who have their immune systems suppressed so their bodies don't reject new organs. This is a dilemma for those like Ana-Rose Thorpe, from Manchester, who is waiting for a liver transplant. Now aged 29, Ana-Rose has lived with hepatitis almost her entire life after contracting it as a baby. The disease has taken its toll and now her liver is failing and she is in desperate need of a transplant. "Having to go into hospital while there are coronavirus patients there is very worrying," she says. "Whilst my body could withstand the transplant, the longer I'm not being monitored, not being seen as often as I was, the longer I leave it, I could just get sicker and sicker. "I feel like it's patients that are already on the transplant list, patients waiting for other operations, we have just been swept aside." "It's my life - it is a matter of life and death," Ana-Rose says. Read full story Source: BBC News, 9 April 2020
  5. News Article
    Nick has terminal bowel cancer. He’s been told he won't receive chemotherapy for three months because it would put him more at risk of the coronavirus. He fears having the treatment taken away would shorten his life. Current NHS guidelines say cancer specialists should discuss with their patients whether it is riskier for them to undergo or to delay treatment at this time. Read full story Source: BBC News, 6 April 2020
  6. News Article
    Thousands of people have been missed off the government's high risk list for Covid-19 despite meeting the criteria. Among them have been transplant patients, people with asthma and some with rare lung diseases. Many are worried it will affect their ability to access food and medical supplies as they shield from the virus, unable to leave their homes for at least 12 weeks. "It's like she's been forgotten," said Bev Pearson, mother of 20-year-old heart transplant patient Lucy Pearson. Miss Pearson, from Whitsbury in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, had her transplant 14 years ago and still visits hospital for regular check-ups. She has been shielding in the home she shares with her mother, brother and sister - none of whom have been venturing out in an attempt to protect her. Despite registering her daughter on the government list herself, she said she had received no confirmation. When she asked her GP she was told it had "nothing to do with the surgery", she added. Read full story Source: BBC News, 7 April 2020
  7. News Article
    Healthcare professionals have been told to consider not treating patients with the COVID-19 coronavirus if they themselves would be put at risk, part of new ethical guidance that calls on doctors to prioritise some ailments over the pandemic. The new recommendations for healthcare professionals over 70 years, or with pre-existing conditions, to put themselves first when tackling the pandemic comes following the death of a doctor who returned to the frontlines as a volunteer following a call to arms from the government. The guidance from the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) makes up part of a sweeping list of ethical considerations faced by healthcare workers in the face of the global pandemic. Read full story Source: The Independent, 2 April 2020
  8. News Article
    GP practices should review 1.5 million patients identified by NHS England as the most vulnerable to the coronavirus. NHS England will send a standard letter to these patients asking them to stay at home at all times and avoid any face-to-face contact for at least 12 weeks. GPs will be able to access a report on which patients will be contacted with specific advice, with NHS England directing GPs to review the list and provide additional support to patients. The patients, who are at ‘the highest risk of severe illness that would require hospitalisation from coronavirus’, include those who have had an organ transplant; people with specific cancers; people with severe respiratory conditions; people with rare diseases; people on immunosuppression therapies; and pregnant women with significant heart disease. In a letter to GPs, NHS England said: "We ask that you review this report for accuracy and, where any of these patients have dementia, a learning disability or autism, that you provide appropriate additional support to them to ensure they continue receiving access to care." Read full story Source: Management in Practice, 24 March 2020
  9. News Article
    New guidelines have been published to help doctors and nurses decide how to prioritise patients during the coronavirus pandemic. The advice from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) was produced amid concerns that the NHS would be overwhelmed by the demand for intensive care beds and ventilators. The three new NICE guidelines, which have been drawn up within a week rather than the usual timescale of up to two years, cover patients needing critical care, kidney dialysis and cancer treatment. They say all patients admitted to hospital should still be assessed as usual for frailty “irrespective of Covid-19 status”. Decisions about admitting patients to critical care should consider how likely they are to recover, taking into account the likelihood of recovery “to an outcome that is acceptable to them”. Doctors are advised to discuss possible “do not resuscitate” decisions with adults who are assessed as having increased frailty, such as those who need help with outside activities or are dependent for personal care. Read full story Source: Independent, 22 March 2020
  10. Content Article
    500,000 immunocompromised people, who are at particularly high risk from Covid, live in the UK. Because their weakened immune systems meant they were less likely to have been protected by the first two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine than the general population, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation recommended they have a ‘third primary dose’ eight weeks after their second dose (whereas other groups were to get a booster six months after their second dose). But the complexity of this system meant that huge numbers of immunocompromised people were left waiting for a vaccine invitation that never came.  In this blog for The King's Fund, Gemma Peters, Chief Executive of Blood Cancer UK, examines the challenges people with blood cancer and others with compromised immunity faced during the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out. She argues that NHS England must fix these issues by establishing a register of immunocompromised people and a reliable way of contacting them, tackling misinformation and publicly acknowledging the issues people with compromised immune systems have faced to date.
  11. Content Article
    This report by Muscular Dystrophy UK looks at the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on people living with muscle-wasting conditions, according to the results of a survey conducted in Scotland. It is estimated that more than 6,000 people in Scotland live with a muscle-wasting condition and require access to a range of specialist appointments and clinicians to meet their complex care needs.
  12. Content Article
    It is particularly important that severely immunosuppressed people receive their booster given the new dominant Omicron variant. However, this is causing some difficulties as the system does not currently distinguish between a third primary dose and a booster. This update from the Royal College of Physicians provides guidance for doctors on identifying severely immunosuppressed patients who are eligible for a booster vaccine, having already had a third primary dose.
  13. Content Article
    This self-assessment tool has been developed by the British Lung Foundation for people with Long Covid symptoms. It aims to help patients identify and prioritise their needs, signposts them to further information and outlines the help they should get in dealing with Long Covid. It is anonymous and takes 5-10 minutes to complete. Patients can also print out their answers and share them with healthcare professionals an employers to clearly highlight an individual's needs.
  14. News Article
    A frailty index is rationing treatment for older and disabled people who catch coronavirus, says Patience Owen. Patience has has a debilitating connective tissue disorder and, like thousands of others with rare conditions, is already in a minority within a minority, marginalised by our NHS, battling increasing disability day by day. Back in March, without consultation and days before the first lockdown, the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), a worldwide tool used to swiftly identify frailty in older patients to improve acute care, was adapted by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). It asked NHS staff in England to score the frailty of Covid patients. Rather than aiming to improve care, it seems the CFS – a fitness-to-frailty sheet using scores from one to nine – was used to work out which patients should be denied acute care. Nice’s new guidelines advised NHS trusts to “sensitively discuss a possible ‘do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation’ decision with all adults with capacity and an assessment suggestive of increased frailty”. "Checking the scale, I found I would score five, the 'mildly frail' category, and therefore should I get Covid I could be steered towards end-of-life care. Bluntly, if I catch the virus, the NHS may help me to die, not live," says Patience. By early April, there was a proliferation of illegal “do not resuscitate” (DNR) notices in care homes for people with learning disabilities, and for older people in care homes and in hospitals. Many acutely ill patients stayed at home with Covid symptoms in the belief that they risked being denied care in hospital. Following warnings by the healthcare regulator, the Care Quality Commission, and other medical bodies, that the blanket application of the notices must stop, and legal challenges by charities, exclusions were made to the NICE guidelines. These included “younger people, people with stable long-term disabilities, learning disabilities or autism”. Yet the guidelines remain in place, in spite of the fact that they appear to contravene the Human Rights Act (including the right to life, article 2, and the right to non-discrimination, article 14). A spokeswoman for NICE says it is “very aware of the concerns of some patient groups about access to critical care, and we understand how difficult this feels. Our COVID-19 rapid guideline on critical care was developed to support critical care teams in their management of patients during a very difficult period of intense pressure." “'Difficult' is a hollow word for the feeling of being selected to die," says Patience. "It’s difficult not to conclude that those with long-term conditions and disabilities, like myself, have become viewed as a sacrificial herd." Read full story Source: The Guardian, 29 September 2020
  15. Content Article
    Mental and physical health are closely related, and people who live with long-term physical conditions are twice as likely to have poor mental health as those who do not. The Covid-19 pandemic is likely to have increased this trend. This report looks at the lived experience of people living with long-term conditions, their family members and the healthcare professionals who work with them, to understand the relationships between having a long-term illness and people’s emotional and mental wellbeing. It aims to identify ways of improving people’s experiences and outcomes. The report covers: the impact long-term conditions can have on people, their relationships and jobs. what helps people deal with this impact. what support is already available and works. what needs to change to better emotionally support people living with long-term physical ill-health. This report was coproduced by National Voices and Centre for Mental Health, with support from a range of long-term conditions charities.
  16. Content Article
    This report examines the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on people living with long-term conditions and highlights that many have deteriorated faster than usual due to being unable to access rehabilitation services. It makes recommendations to the government aimed at restoring rehabilitation support services. The report was produced collaboratively by The Alzheimer's Society, The Stroke Association, Macmillan Cancer Support, The Centre for Mental Health, Age UK, The College of Podiatry, The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, The Royal College of Occupational Therapists, The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy and The British Dietetic Association.
  17. Content Article
    This qualitative descriptive study in the journal BMC Nursing aimed to analyse the experiences of patients with type 2 diabetes during the stay-at-home order in place during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. It looked at the experiences of ten patients with type 2 diabetes living in Catalonia and identified the strategies and resources they used to manage their care. The study found that many people with type 2 diabetes reported effective self-care during confinement and were able to adapt well using the resources available, without face-to-face contact with primary care health staff.
  18. Content Article
    This opinion piece in The BMJ looks at the impact of the government's decision to make the wearing of masks in healthcare settings the decision of local providers, dependent on local risk assessment and prevalence. It highlights reports of patients wearing high-filtration FFP2 or FFP3 respirator—many of who are immunocompromised—being asked to remove and replace them with less effective single-use masks in order to gain entry to NHS facilities for treatment. The authors highlight that Covid-19 is an airborne pathogen and that the likelihood of contracting the virus increases with length of time spent in contaminated air. They argue that downgrading mask use in healthcare settings puts everyone at risk, but that it is a particular issue for patients who are clinically extremely vulnerable due to underlying health conditions or because they are undergoing treatment for cancer. They call on the government to upgrade masks to FFP2 or FFP3 respirators in order to protect staff and patients and reverse the worrying trend of clinically extremely vulnerable patients avoiding attending healthcare services.
  19. Content Article
    Chronic (persistent or long-lasting or recurrent) pain is life-changing and can significantly impact individuals, their families and carers. This paper sets out the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance's (ARMA's) position on how pain affects people with musculoskeletal conditions, and how their pain should be managed.
  20. Content Article
    This opinion piece by GP educator and writer John Launer looks at the current delays and cancellations to routine appointments facing patients with long term conditions. He describes his personal experience of waiting three years with no face-to-face of phone appointment to review his condition, when this should happen every six months. John outlines the fact that routine outpatient care in some hospitals is unravelling, but with no monitoring of the situation and without publicity. He highlights the risks for patients who are not receiving the regular contact with healthcare professionals that they need, including medical complications, emergency admissions and even preventable deaths. There is particularly risk to patients who do not feel able to contact their consultant or specialist. When speaking to the hospital department about how the risks were being mitigated, John was concerned to discover that there were no screening procedures in place for clinicians to determine which patients were at highest risk; no prioritisation as going on and there was no system in place to monitor the consequences of this.
  21. Content Article
    The burden of multiple conditions is unevenly distributed across the population, and evidence shows that people living in the most deprived areas are developing conditions on average 10-15 years earlier than those living in the least. This report from The Taskforce on Multiple Conditions established by The Richmond Group of Charities, outlines a series of key questions and opportunities for change, designed to support and shape the plans and actions of everyone responsible for the delivery of health and care services. The research for the report focused on four areas of England containing communities on low incomes, people from minority ethnic groups and people living in both urban and rural environments. A rapid evidence review into the literature on health inequalities and multiple long-term conditions was also carried out to inform the report.
  22. Content Article
    At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, demand on the NHS 111 system exceeded capacity and only around half of calls were answered during that time. This investigation by the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) aimed to support improvements in the delivery of NHS 111 and other telephone triage services during a national healthcare emergency. HSIB first identified a potential safety risk associated with NHS 111’s response to callers with Covid-19-related symptoms when concerns were raised through HSIB’s Citizens’ Partnership. The national investigation aimed to understand: the set-up, design and delivery of the Covid-19 telephone triage service accessed by the public by dialling 111 in response to the pandemic. the context and contributory factors influencing the pathway for patients calling NHS 111 with Covid-19-related symptoms. The investigation used four real patient safety incidents involving patients and their families who dialled NHS 111 for advice during the Covid-19 pandemic. All four patients in these reference events—Vincenzo, Ali, Patrick and Dr C—died of Covid-19 having been advised by NHS 111 to stay at home.
  23. Content Article
    IMPARTS is an evidence based website with guides aimed at people with long term conditions (such as acute kidney injury, COPD and diabetes) and COVID-19. IMPARTS has put together a list of resources from condition-specific charities which they hope will help and provide reassurance during this time. This includes specific advice on the following: Coping with stress during COVID-19 (World Health Organisation) Sleep anxiety: tips to manage and improve sleep (The Sleep Council) Looking after your mental health during Coronavirus (The Mental Health Foundation) Coronavirus and your wellbeing (MIND) COVID recovery online course (Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust) Health unlocked – a holistic approach to healthcare OCD and COVID-19 survival tips (OCD UK).  
  24. Content Article
    A recent Health Foundation long read suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic could be a watershed moment in creating the social and political will to build a society that values everyone’s health – now and in the long term. The global pandemic and the wider governmental and societal response, is certainly bringing health inequalities into sharp focus. And it has been apparent from the early stages of the pandemic that some groups are at much higher risk of catching and dying from the virus than others. Factors such as age, gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic deprivation are all known to be important. Critically, these factors combine in complex ways to put some people at much greater risk. In addition, the measures taken to control the spread of the virus are having unequal socioeconomic impacts, which are likely to deepen health inequalities in the long term. Over the coming months, the Health Foundation will continue to round up key evidence on COVID-19 and inequalities. In this article the Health Foundation give an overview of some key themes emerging from recent work on the unequal impact of COVID-19, focusing on how children and young people are being affected, and the economic effects of the pandemic.
  25. Content Article
    The results of Digital Health Intelligence’s first survey of CNIO Network members provides a ’state of the nation’ insight into nursing and allied health professional leadership in healthcare IT. This webinar offers a chance to learn about some of the key findings of the survey and to hear from senior nursing figures on their thoughts about what it means for where we go next.
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