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News Article
National call for action as measles cases surge across UK
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A “national call to action” has been made by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) after a worrying surge in the spread of measles in London and the West Midlands. Professor Dame Jenny Harries, chief executive of the health board, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that people have “forgotten what measles is like”, and that children can be unwell for a week or two with symptoms including a nasty rash, high fever and ear infections. She added that the virus is highly infectious, with health officials warning that serious complications can arise that include hospitalisations and death. This comes as official figures show uptake of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is at its lowest point in more than a decade. Read full story Source: The Independent, 19 January 2024 -
News ArticleHealth experts have warned “we must act now” as measles cases have soared across the country amid an increase in unvaccinated children. There were 1,603 suspected cases of measles in England and Wales in 2023, new statistics from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) show. MMR cases have increased significantly in the last two years - in 2022, there were 735 cases, and just 360 the year before. On Friday, Birmingham Children’s Hospital said it had become inundated with the highest number of children with measles in decades. The hospital treated more than 50 children for the disease in the last month. Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, Chair of the UK Health Department's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, warned that unless more children are vaccinated there will be an increase in hospital admissions and even deaths. He told The Independent: “The main reason for this new outbreak is the increase in unvaccinated children in the last few years. “Vaccinations have decreased below 90 per cent and this is dangerous. The vaccine is powerful if we use it, and it will protect our children. “We must act now and the increased cases are a warning that there will be consequences if we don’t. There will be children with severe infections, brain damage and even death.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 15 January 2024
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News Article
Covid jab skipped by 44%, entire UK study finds
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
More than 7,000 Covid-related hospital admissions could have been prevented in the UK in the summer of 2022 if the population had received the full number of jabs recommended, according to research in The Lancet. Some 44% of the UK population was under-vaccinated, with younger people among the most likely to skip doses. In a first, health records for everyone over five in the UK were analysed. The same approach could now be used to understand other diseases. The entire population of the UK is 67 million, and all those over the age of five had their anonymised electronic health data analysed for The Lancet study. With about 40,000 severe hospital admissions related to Covid during that summer, the research estimates that more than 7,000 - 17% - would have been avoided if everyone had taken up the offer of the vaccine and booster doses for which they were eligible. Read full story Source: BBC News, 16 January 2024 -
Content ArticleThe Covid-19 pandemic led to unprecedented healthcare disruption across the UK. In England, the number of patient referrals waiting to be treated in hospital was more than 7·2 million at the end of October, 2022. In response, the UK Government set up an elective recovery taskforce (ERT) in December, 2022, to help NHS England tackle this backlog. Ahmar Shah and colleagues estimated the extent of healthcare disruption during the Covid-19 pandemic to aid decision making regarding the necessary capacity increases that are required to address the ensuing backlog. The study, published in The Lancet, found NHS waiting list for elective treatment increased between 1 Jan 2012, and the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, suggesting a gradual service decline. The waiting list then substantially increased during the pandemic, but this substantial increase is likely to represent a substantial underestimation of the backlog because of the anticipated large numbers of people who have still not come forward for care. Even if the ambitious target of 30% increase in capacity is achieved during the next 3 years, several years (beyond the end of 2025) will be needed for the backlog to clear. This study emphasises the need to improve health-care system resilience to ensure that the effects of any future emergencies on the provision of routine care are minimised.
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Content ArticleThe BMA has sent a letter to Amanda Pritchard, Chief Executive of NHS England, highlighting the increasing concerns from their members about the protection of healthcare workers and patients from Covid-19, particularly in light of the rise in cases, hospitalisations and deaths that occurred in September and October.
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News Article
Jab for winter virus could cut baby hospitalisations by 80%, study says
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Hospital admissions from a winter virus could be reduced by more than 80% if babies are given a single dose of a new antibody treatment, a study says. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms, but can lead to bronchiolitis and pneumonia. More than 30,000 under fives are hospitalised with RSV in the UK annually, resulting in 20 to 30 deaths. One British parent said her son getting RSV was "very scary" as a first-time mother. Lorna and Russell Smith's eldest son, Caolan, got the virus when he was eight months old and was admitted to hospital twice - each time requiring oxygen. Now aged two, he has made a full recovery. "I hadn't heard of RSV and wasn't sure what to do. He had laboured breathing due to high temperature and was quite lethargic. It brought a lot of anxiety and stress," Lorna said. The Harmonie study involved 8,000 children up to the age of 12 months, with half receiving a single dose of the monoclonal antibody treatment nirsevimab. The results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that RSV-related hospitalisation was reduced by 83% in those receiving the jab and admissions for all chest infections were cut by 58%. Side effects were similar in both groups and mostly mild. Read full story Source: BBC News, 27 December 2023 -
News ArticleThe Royal College of Nursing has warned of an increase risk of Covid among hospital staff and patients due to the NHS’s failure to follow World Health Organization advice about infection control during a current spike in cases. The most recent figures showed one in 24 people in England and Scotland had Covid on 13 December, up from one in 55 two weeks before. Last week WHO expressed concern about a new subvariant of Omicron, labelled JN.1, after its rapid spread in the Americas, western Pacific and European regions. To tackle the increase, the WHO advised that all health facilities “implement universal masking” and give health workers “respirators and other PPE”. Now the RCN has written to the four chief nursing officers in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland asking why this guidance has not been introduced across the NHS. The letter, seen by the Guardian, points out that existing guidance in the national infection prevention and control manual (NIPCM) does not mandate hospital staff to use masks. It also leaves decisions about respirators to local risk assessors. The RCN says this guidance to UK hospitals is “inconsistent” with WHO advice. The letter by Patricia Marquis, the RCN’s director for England, calls for urgent revision to the NIPCM guidance to ensure the “universal implementation” of masks and respirators for health workers. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 22 December 2023
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Content ArticleResearch funded by the NIHR has found that air cleaning technologies designed to make social interactions safer in indoor spaces are not effective. The research was funded by the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU) in Emergency Preparedness and Response. The researchers looked at technologies including: air filtration germicidal lights ionisers. They studied evidence about whether the technologies reduce the risk of catching airborne respiratory or gastrointestinal infections. The researchers found the technologies do not stop the spread of infections in buildings.
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News ArticlePregnant women have been urged to get vaccinated following a spike in suspected whooping cough cases in England and Wales. Official figures show doctors reported some 716 suspected cases between July and November - up from 217 in the previous period last year. Whooping cough, or pertussis, is a bacterial infection of the lungs and breathing tubes that spreads easily and infected tens of thousands of people before vaccines were introduced. It is easily preventable, experts say, but can sometimes cause serious problems for babies and children. Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam, consultant epidemiologist at the UKHSA, said the rise in suspected cases of whooping cough was “expected” due to low immunity as a result of the Covid pandemic. Despite vaccinations being available in the UK the infection hasn’t gone away “completely” but immunisation can provide “life-long protection”. “Social distancing and lockdown measures imposed across the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the spread of infections, including whooping cough,” Dr Amirthalingam added. “As expected, we are now seeing cases of whooping cough increase again so it’s vital pregnant women ensure they get vaccinated to protect their baby.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 7 December 2023
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News Article
Humiliated Covid whistleblower says boss tried to 'break' her
Patient_Safety_Learning posted a news article in News
A senior doctor who won a record £3.2m payout says her boss tried to "break" her after she raised concerns about how Covid was being handled. Rosalind Ranson, medical director on the Isle of Man during the pandemic, experienced months of humiliation, an employment tribunal found. Dr Ranson has given BBC News her first interview since the hearing. Read full story Source: BBC News, 5 December 2023 -
News Article
Hospital staff failed man living with HIV by unnecessarily delaying surgery
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A hospital that unnecessarily delayed a man’s surgery at the last minute because he had HIV failed in their care, according to England’s Health Ombudsman. The 48-year-old from Walsall, who does not want to be named, had been due to have prostate surgery at Walsall Manor Hospital on 10 March 2020. His surgery was scheduled to be the first of the morning. As he was about to enter the operating room, he was told that due to his HIV status his surgery would now be moved to last on the operating list that afternoon. The hospital claimed that this was due to the level of cleaning and infection control that would need to take place following his surgery to reduce the risk to others. However, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO), found that Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust acted inappropriately and failed the man. This is because the universal precautions that apply to all patients having surgery are enough to protect and prevent infections from spreading among patients and staff. Therefore, no additional cleaning should have been necessary. The policy of placing a patient at the end of an operating list usually relates to patients with a high-risk bacterial infection. It should not be applied to a person who has HIV and is receiving treatment. The Ombudsman also found that although the Trust had made some changes since this happened, they had not done enough to make sure the same mistake did not reoccur. PHSO recommended the Trust apologise to the man and create an action plan to stop this happening again. The Trust has complied with these recommendations. Read full story Source: Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, 1 December 2023 -
News ArticleNewborn babies could be at a higher risk of a deadly bacterial infection carried by their mothers than previously thought. Group B Strep or GBS is a common bacteria found in the vagina and rectum which is usually harmless. However, it can be passed on from mothers to their newborn babies leading to complications such as meningitis and sepsis. NHS England says that GBS rarely causes problems and 1 in 1,750 babies fall ill after contracting the infection. However, researchers at the University of Cambridge have found that the likelihood of newborn babies falling ill could be far greater. They claim one in 200 newborns are admitted to neonatal units with sepsis caused by GBS. Pregnant women are not routinely screened for GBS in the UK and only usually discover they are carriers if they have other complications or risk factors. Jane Plumb, co-founded charity Group B Strep Support with her husband Robert after losing their middle child to the infection in 1996. She said: “This important study highlights the extent of the devastating impact group B Strep has on newborn babies, and how important it is to measure accurately the number of these infections. “Inadequate data collected on group B Strep is why we recently urged the Government to make group B Strep a notifiable disease, ensuring cases would have to be reported. “Without understanding the true number of infections, we may not implement appropriate prevention strategies and are unable to measure their true effectiveness.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 29 November 2023 Further reading on the hub: Leading for safety: A conversation with Jane Plumb, Founder of Group B Strep Support
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News Article
HIV blood tests to be rolled out to more hospitals
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Opt-out blood tests for HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C will be rolled out to a further 46 hospitals across England, the government has announced. Health Secretary Victoria Atkins said the new £20m programme would lead to earlier diagnoses and treatment. Under the scheme, anyone having a blood test in selected hospital A&E units has also been tested for HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C, unless they opted out. The trials have been taking place for the last 18 months in 33 hospitals in London, Greater Manchester, Sussex and Blackpool, where prevalence is classed by the NHS as "very high". Figures released by the NHS earlier show those pilots have identified more than 3,500 cases of the three bloodborne infections since April 2022, including more than 580 HIV cases. Ms Atkins said: "The more people we can diagnose, the more chance we have of ending new transmissions of the virus and the stigma wrongly attached to it." She added that rolling out the tests to more hospitals would help ensure early diagnoses so people "can be given the support and the medical treatment they need to live not just longer lives but also higher quality lives". Read full story Source: BBC News, 29 November 2023 -
News Article
People with Covid discharged to care homes over fears for NHS, inquiry told
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
People with Covid-19 were discharged to care homes over fears about the NHS getting “clogged up”, the pandemic inquiry has heard. Professor Dame Jenny Harries, England’s deputy chief medical officer during the pandemic and now head of the UK Health Security Agency, told the inquiry of how an email she sent in mid-March 2020 described the “bleak picture” and “top line awful prospect” of what needed to happen if hospitals overflowed. Discharging people to care homes – where thousands of people died of Covid – has been one of the central controversies when it comes to how the Government handled the pandemic. On Wednesday, the Covid inquiry was read an email exchange between Rosamond Roughton, an official at the Department of Health, and Dame Jenny on March 16 2020. Ms Roughton asked what the approach should be around discharging symptomatic people to care homes, adding: “My working assumption was that we would have to allow discharge to happen, and have very strict infection control? Otherwise the NHS presumably gets clogged up with people who aren’t acutely ill.” Ms Roughton added that this was a “big ethical issue” for care home providers who were “understandably very concerned” and who were “already getting questions from family members”. In response, Dame Jenny emailed: “Whilst the prospect is perhaps what none of us would wish to plan for, I believe the reality will be that we will need to discharge Covid-19 positive patients into residential care settings for the reason you have noted. “This will be entirely clinically appropriate because the NHS will triage those to retain in acute settings who can benefit from that sector’s care. “The numbers of people with disease will rise sharply within a fairly short timeframe and I suspect make this fairly normal practice and more acceptable, but I do recognise that families and care homes will not welcome this in the initial phase.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 29 November 2023 -
News ArticleThe number of people with norovirus in hospital in England is 179% higher than the average at this time of year, official data shows, as the NHS comes under mounting winter pressure. Admissions caused by the vomiting and diarrhoea-causing norovirus have surged and cases of other seasonal viruses are also rising, according to NHS England figures. Health chiefs said the impact on hospitals from seasonal viruses was likely to be worsened by the current cold weather. “We all know somebody who has had some kind of nasty winter virus in the last few weeks,” said Sir Stephen Powis, NHS England’s medical director. “Today’s data shows this is starting to trickle through to hospital admissions, with a much higher volume of norovirus cases compared to last year, and the continued impact of infections like flu and RSV in children on hospital capacity – all likely to be exacerbated by this week’s cold weather.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 30 November 2023
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News ArticleClose contacts of people infected with monkeypox have criticised health officials for a lack of communication and support while they have to isolate. Public health experts and scientists have said the government needs to offer financial support to people forced to self-isolate for 21 days, as it emerged that one local council has already stepped in to provide sick pay for an infected man who could not work from home and was told he would not be paid. With cases of monkeypox on the rise in the UK – 106 were infections detected as of Friday – it’s thought hundreds of people have been told to self-isolate since the beginning of May. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said it was providing daily calls for infected individuals and close contacts to offer support. However, one man from Leicester, whose housemate contracted monkeypox after visiting Gran Canaria pride festival, described UKHSA’s handling of his case as a “farce”, saying he has waited days for instruction from officials. “They couldn’t provide any meaningful or helpful information and nothing about housemates or close contacts,” the housemate told The Independent. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has meanwhile said countries should take quick steps to contain the spread of monkeypox and share data about their vaccine stockpiles. Read full story Source: The Independent, 29 May 2022
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News Article
Safety regulator refused to investigate some NHS staff Covid deaths
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Britain’s safety at work regulator refused to investigate reports from NHS trusts that 10 frontline staff had died as a result of catching Covid-19 during the pandemic. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) declined to look into at least 89 dangerous incidents that NHS trusts said involved healthcare workers being exposed to Covid, including 10 deaths. The stance taken by the HSE, which oversees workplace health and safety and can bring prosecutions, is disclosed in freedom of information requests by the Pharmaceutical Journal. It has prompted concern that the regulator is too strict in its definition of workplace harm. It found that 173 trusts in England submitted at least 6,007 reports about employees’ exposure to Covid-19 in the course of their duties to the HSE between 30 January 2020 and 11 March 2022, under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR). They included 213 “dangerous occurrences”, which are incidents that have the potential to cause significant harm; 5,753 cases where a staff member had caught Covid-19; and 41 deaths among people who had been exposed to the disease at their workplace. However, the HSE refused to look into five Covid deaths reported under the RIDDOR scheme by the Yorkshire ambulance service (YAS) because of what it considered a lack of evidence. The regulator also decided not to look into the Covid deaths of five staff at University College London hospital acute trust, despite the trust’s belief they had caught it at work. “The HSE found that there was no reasonable evidence that the infection was contracted at work,” a trust spokesperson said. Shelly Asquith, the health, safety and wellbeing officer at the Trades Union Congress, said the HSE’s decisions and claimed lack of evidence was “really concerning”. It suggested a continued “element of denial about Covid being airborne and it not being possible to necessarily pinpoint where exactly somebody was exposed once it’s in the air”, she added. Read full story Source: Guardian, 26 May 2022 -
News ArticleCovid-19 vaccination is effective for cancer patients but protection wanes much more rapidly than in the general population, a large study has found. Vaccine effectiveness is much lower in people with leukaemia or lymphoma, those with a recent cancer diagnosis, and those who have had radiotherapy or systemic anti-cancer treatments within the past year, according to the research published in Lancet Oncology. The authors of the world’s largest real world health system evaluation of Covid-19 in cancer patients highlighted the importance of booster programmes, non-pharmacological strategies, and access to antiviral treatment programmes in order to reduce the risk that Covid-19 poses to cancer patients. Peter Johnson, professor of medical oncology at the University of Southampton and joint author of the study, said, “This study shows that for some people with cancer, covid-19 vaccination may give less effective and shorter lasting protection. This highlights the importance of vaccination booster programmes and rapid access to covid-19 treatments for people undergoing cancer treatments.” Study leader, Lennard Lee, department of oncology, University of Oxford, said, “Cancer patients should be aware that at 3-6months they are likely to have less protection from their coronavirus vaccine than people without cancer. It is important that people with a diagnosis of cancer are up to date with their coronavirus vaccination and have had their spring booster if they are eligible.” Read full story Source: BMJ, 24 May 2022
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News Article
Covid can cause ongoing damage to heart, lungs and kidneys, study finds
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Damage to the body’s organs including the lungs and kidneys is common in people who were admitted to hospital with Covid, with one in eight found to have heart inflammation, researchers have revealed. As the pandemic evolved, it became clear that some people who had Covid were being left with ongoing symptoms – a condition that has been called Long Covid. Previous studies have revealed that fewer than a third of patients who have ongoing Covid symptoms after being hospitalised with the disease feel fully recovered a year later, while some experts have warned Long Covid could result in a generation affected by disability. Now researchers tracking the progress of patients who were treated in hospital for Covid say they have found evidence the disease can take a toll on a range of organs. What’s more, they say the severity of ongoing symptoms appears to be linked to the severity of the Covid infection itself. “Even fit, healthy individuals can suffer severe Covid-19 illness and to avoid this, members of the public should take up the offer of vaccination,” said Prof Colin Berry, of the University of Glasgow, which led the CISCO-19 (Cardiac imaging in Sars coronavirus disease-19) study. “Our study provides objective evidence of abnormalities at one to two months post-Covid and these findings tie in with persisting symptoms at that time and the likelihood of ongoing health needs one year later,” Berry added. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 23 May 2022 -
News Article
NHS England ends covid ‘command and control’ measures
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The NHS threat level in response to Covid-19 has been downgraded following drops in community cases and hospital inpatient numbers, NHS England chiefs have announced. The threat level to the health service has been dropped from a “level four” incident, which requires NHSE to “command and control” NHS resources in response to the pandemic, to a “level three” incident, which requires a response by a number of trusts within an NHS region. A letter from NHSE chief executive Amanda Pritchard and chief operating officer Sir David Sloman, published today, said local systems “need to ensure their resilience and capability to re-establish full incident responses” if needed. At NHSE’s board meeting she stressed that covid was still impacting the service. Trusts have also been reminded to relax visiting restrictions. The letter said all healthcare settings “should now begin transitioning back towards their own pre-pandemic [or better] policies on inpatient visiting and patients being accompanied in outpatient and [urgent and emergency care] services”. The default position for trusts should be “no patient having to be alone unless through their choice,” the letter said. It comes as some trusts have resisted pressure from government and NHSE to relax visiting restrictions. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 19 May 2022 -
News Article
Respiratory syncytial virus kills 100,000 under-fives every year
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Respiratory syncytial virus is killing 100,000 children under the age of five every year worldwide, new figures reveal as experts say the global easing of coronavirus restrictions is causing a surge in cases. RSV is the most common cause of acute lower respiratory infection in young children. It spreads easily via coughing and sneezing. There is no vaccine or specific treatment. RSV-attributable acute lower respiratory infections led to more than 100,000 deaths of children under five in 2019, according to figures published in the Lancet. Of those, more than 45,000 were under six months old, the first-of-its-kind study found. More children are likely to be affected by RSV in the future, experts believe, because masks and lockdowns have robbed children of natural immunity against a range of common viruses, including RSV. “RSV is the predominant cause of acute lower respiratory infection in young children and our updated estimates reveal that children six months and younger are particularly vulnerable, especially with cases surging as Covid-19 restrictions are easing around the world,” said the study’s co-author, Harish Nair of the University of Edinburgh. “The majority of the young children born in the last two years have never been exposed to RSV (and therefore have no immunity against this virus).” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 19 May 2022 -
News ArticleCases of monkeypox are being investigated in European countries, including the UK as well as the US, Canada and Australia. Monkeypox is caused by the monkeypox virus, a member of the same family of viruses as smallpox, although it is much less severe and experts say chances of infection are low. It occurs mostly in remote parts of central and west African countries, near tropical rainforests. There are two main strains of virus - west African and central African. Two of the infected patients in the UK travelled from Nigeria, so it is likely that they are suffering from the West African strain of the virus, which is generally mild, but this is as yet unconfirmed. Another case was a healthcare worker who picked up the virus from one of the patients. More recent cases do not have any known links with each other, or any history of travel. It appears they caught it in the UK from spread in the community. The UKHSA says anyone with concerns that they could be infected should see a health professional, but make contact with the clinic or surgery ahead of a visit. Initial symptoms include fever, headaches, swellings, back pain, aching muscles and a general listlessness. Once the fever breaks a rash can develop, often beginning on the face, then spreading to other parts of the body, most commonly the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. The infection usually clears up on its own and lasts between 14 and 21 days. Experts say we are not on the brink of a national outbreak and, according to Public Health England, the risk to the public is low. Prof Jonathan Ball, professor of molecular virology, University of Nottingham, said: "The fact that only one of the 50 contacts of the initial monkeypox-infected patient has been infected shows how poorly infectious the virus is. "It is wrong to think that we are on the brink of a nationwide outbreak." Read full story Source: BBC News, 20 May 2022
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News Article
Government failed health staff in pandemic, says BMA
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The UK government failed in its duty of care to protect doctors and other healthcare staff from avoidable harm and suffering in its management of the covid-19 pandemic, a major review by the BMA has concluded. Two reports published on 19 May document the experiences of thousands of UK doctors throughout the pandemic, drawing on real time surveys carried out over the past two years, formal testimonies, data, and evidence sessions. The reports will form part of a wider review by the BMA into the government’s handling of the pandemic, with three further instalments to come. The evidence lays bare the devastating impact of the pandemic on doctors and the NHS, with repeated mistakes, errors of judgment, and failures of government policy amounting to a failure of a duty of care to the workforce, the BMA said. Chaand Nagpaul, BMA chair of council, said, “A moral duty of government is to protect its own healthcare workers from harm in the course of duty, as they serve and protect the nation’s health. Yet, in reality, doctors were desperately let down by the UK government’s failure to adequately prepare for the pandemic, and their subsequent flawed decision making, with tragic consequences. “The evidence presented in our reports demonstrates, unequivocally, that the UK government failed in its duty of care to the medical profession.” Read full story Source: BMJ, 19 May 2022 -
News ArticleMore than half of people hospitalised with Covid-19 still have at least one symptom two years after they were first infected, according to the longest follow-up study of its kind. While physical and mental health generally improve over time, the analysis suggests that coronavirus patients discharged from hospital still tend to experience poorer health and quality of life than the general population. The research was published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine. “Our findings indicate that for a certain proportion of hospitalised Covid-19 survivors, while they may have cleared the initial infection, more than two years is needed to recover fully,” said the lead author, Prof Bin Cao, of the China-Japan Friendship hospital in China. Until now, the long-term health effects of Covid-19 have remained largely unknown, as the longest follow-up studies to date have spanned about a year. The absence of pre-Covid-19 health status data and comparisons with the general population in most studies also made it difficult to determine how well patients with Covid-19 have recovered. “Ongoing follow-up of Covid-19 survivors, particularly those with symptoms of long Covid, is essential to understand the longer course of the illness, as is further exploration of the benefits of rehabilitation programmes for recovery,” said Cao. “There is a clear need to provide continued support to a significant proportion of people who’ve had Covid-19, and to understand how vaccines, emerging treatments and variants affect long-term health outcomes.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 11 May 2022
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News Article
Covid inquiry broadens scope to include children
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The scope of the UK public inquiry into the handling of the Covid pandemic has widened to include a focus on children. When the draft terms were published in March, there was criticism that they failed to even mention the impact on children and young people. But after a public consultation, the final terms have been published and now incorporate the effect on the health, wellbeing and education of children. The final terms of reference were decided following a four-week public consultation on the draft terms. As well as expanding the terms to include the impact on the health, wellbeing and education of children and young people, the inquiry will also look at the wider mental health impact across the population. The focus on inequalities will also be strengthened, the inquiry said, so that the unequal impact on different sections of society will be considered at all stages. Alongside these issues, the UK-wide inquiry will also look at the following issues which were included originally: the UK's preparedness for the pandemic the use of lockdowns and other "non-pharmaceutical" interventions, such as social distancing and the use of face coverings the management of the pandemic in hospitals and care homes the procurement and provision of equipment like personal protective equipment and ventilators support for businesses and jobs, including the furlough scheme, as well as benefits and sick pay. Read full story Source: BBC News, 12 May 2022
