This briefing, from the Royal College of Midwives, sets out the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number of women choosing to birth unassisted (freebirth). It highlights that anecdotal evidence suggests the number of women choosing to have their babies in this way is on the rise, due to a reduction in birth options.
This briefing looks at the safety and legal implications, key guidance around freebirthing and lists some important considerations for midwives when caring for women who make this decision.
Birthrights are working hard to support maternity healthcare professionals to make thoughtful decisions even in these challenging times and to support pregnant individuals and their families. This webpage includes further information about pregnant women's rights, Birthrights position statement in light of the pandemic and a list of FAQs.
This blog by Cancer Research UK, discusses some key themes emerging for cancer services during the pandemic – from screening and diagnosis to treatment and care. It is important that COVID-19’s impact on cancer services is recognised and discussed to ensure as few lives as possible are needlessly lost to cancer during the pandemic.
The World Health Organization has produced a number of resources, in response to the coronavirus outbreak, to help members of the public know when they should wear a mask and how to put on, use, take off and dispose of a mask.
This guidance, from the Intensive Care Society, states that prone positioning is a simple intervention that can be done in most circumstances, is compatible with all forms of basic respiratory support and requires little or no equipment in the conscious patient. Given its potential for improving oxygenation in COVID-19 patients the authors advocate that a trial of conscious prone positioning be performed on all suitable patients on the ward. This guidance includes a flow diagram to identify when it may be beneficial to trial conscious proning.
The COVID-19: Recovery Response service has been set up by the UK Sepsis Trust and offers professional support to anyone who has been critically ill in hospital with COVID-19 and their family.
Access to high quality community rehabilitation for those worst affected by COVID-19 will be critical. On the horizon is a significant increase in demand. These services already face major disruption from the pandemic due to the redeployment of the workforce and social distancing and shielding requirements. The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy have published some FAQs to help physiotherapists understand what this means for rehabilitation during the pandemic.
Physiotherapy is critical for treating those worst affected by Covid19, including access to community rehabilitation after discharge from hospital. We face a huge increase in demand for high quality community rehab services. The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) sets out what system leaders and policy makers will need to do to meet this challenge.
Government guidance for those working in care homes providing information on how to work safely during this period of sustained transmission of COVID-19.
This article, published by the American Association for Respiratory Care, discusses a Ventilator Training Alliance (VTA) that has been formed by several of the world’s ventilator manufacturers. The VTA has partnered with Allego to create a mobile app that frontline medical providers can use to access a centralised repository of ventilator training resources.
To download the Ventilator Training Alliance knowledge hub app and to watch a video of it in action, please follow the link.
The UK IPC Guidance has been updated. This takes into account the latest assessment of the scientific evidence, and also the feedback from local providers on the ongoing impact on capacity that IPC measures are having.
This is the written transcript and the video recording of the Health and Social Care Committee meeting that took place on Friday 17 April on the topic of: Management of the Coronavirus Outbreak.
Witness(es): Dr Alison Pittard, Dean, Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine; Dame Donna Kinnair, Chief Executive and General Secretary, Royal College of Nursing; Professor Anthony Costello, Professor, UCL Institute for Global Health
Witness(es): Matt Hancock, Secretary of State, Department for Health and Social Care; Jonathan Van-Tam, Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England, Department for Health and Social Care
This course, endorsed by the Intensive Care Society, provides non-ICU clinicians with rapid, targeted and effective training to support critical care delivery for COVID-19 patients.
Topics include:
ICU monitoring and interpretation
Physiotherapy assessment and management of ICU patients
Basic good ICU care
Ventilation
COVID and ARDS Management
Vasoactive and sedative drugs.
To register, contact CIRLCrehab@brunel.ac.uk
This letter template was created by Maternity Action. It can be used by pregnant women to request a risk assessment in relation to their job and the risk of infection from COVID-19.
Radio 4's Women's Hour programme discusses coronavirus and the impact the current pandemic is having on access to cervical screening services. Later in the programme, the discussion turns to the topic of dealing with addiction during the lockdown.
Cervical screening (listen from the start of the recording)
Speakers, Kate Sanger, Head of Public Affairs at Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust, and consultant gynaecologist Dr Christine Ekechi stress that patients should not hesitate to contact their GP if they have any concerns or symptoms. Symptoms might include: abnormal bleeding, bleeding after sex, bleeding after the menopause, bleeding in between periods, unexplained pelvic pain and in some cases increased vaginal discharge.
Addiction (21:45)
According to the charity Action on Addiction, one in three people are addicted to something. How difficult can it be to remain sober or clean in lockdown, and what support can you still access? Speakers include Holly Sexton, Substance Misuse Practitioner at We Are With You, and Caroline Turriff, a freelance journalist who is 15 years in recovery. They discuss whether opiate painkillers and methadone being more easily available through pharmacies creates safety issues. Caroline argues that it will reduce the risk of people obtaining opiates online or heroin via street dealers which she says could enable them to obtain life-threatening amounts.
Paediatric cardiac arrest is unlikely to be caused by a cardiac problem and is more likely to be a respiratory one, making ventilations crucial to the child’s chances of survival. However, for those not trained in paediatric resuscitation, the most important thing is to act quickly to ensure the child gets the treatment they need in the critical situation. This page contains:an EPALS algorithm for paediatric COVID-19 patients.a flowchart on the resuscitation of paediatric COVID-19 patients in hospital.
Many people will be experiencing anxiety about their health and safety during this time. This page provides information about COVID-19 and how to manage your mental health during the pandemic.
Guidance includes advice on accessing treatment and medication.
This guidance was published on 9 April 2020 by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Royal College of Midwifery. It highlights that childbearing women and newborn infants continue to require safe person-centred care during the current COVID-19 pandemic and they represent a unique population. The majority are healthy, experiencing a life event that may bring clinical, emotional, psychological, and social needs. Women and newborn infants therefore require access to quality midwifery care, multidisciplinary services and additional care for complications including emergencies, if needed. When staff and services are under extreme stress there is a real risk of increasing avoidable harm, including an increased risk of infection, morbidity and mortality, and reductions in the overall quality of care. Safety, quality and preventing avoidable harm must be key priorities in decision making. Continuation of as near normal care for women should be supported, as it is recognised to prevent poor outcomes.
Health tech company DrDoctor has announced that its COVID-19 toolkit is now available, free of license fees to any hospital that requires it. The bespoke toolkit comprises of the recently released Broadcast Messaging and Video Consultation services and, as of today, the new digital Symptom Assessment Tracker.
In this anonymous blog, published by the Guardian, the author describes their experience of working in an inpatient psychaitry unit during the current cornovirus outbreak. They raise concerns over the impossibility of physical distancing, lack of personal protective equipment (PPE), patients not being allowed to go out and a rise in violence and anxiety.
This article, published by the British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, concludes that in order for healthcare professionals to deliver safe care they need adequate protection and training in its use. Where employers are failing to provide adequate PPE safe healthcare cannot be delivered. This poses both moral and ethical dilemmas to healthcare professionals who are patient focused, thereby creating a sense of inadequacy and undervaluation resulting in workforce stress.
This blog from the European Respiratory Society, discusses a joint statement that was signed by individuals working on behalf of the Italian Thoracic Society (ITS - AIPO), Association for the Rehabilitation of Respiratory Failure (ARIR) and the Italian Respiratory Society (SIP/IRS).
They conclude that the dramatic spread of the current COVID-19 epidemic in Italy has spurred into action also respiratory rehabilitation specialists (pulmonologists and respiratory therapists), who have been engaged for years in the care of patients with disabilities secondary to respiratory diseases and/or conditions. Their experience acquired in the management of chronic and acute respiratory failure is proving to be a fundamental asset for the management of patients during COVID-19 epidemic. Hence, it is likely that the reorganisation involved in taking care of this scenario will not be a short-term matter.