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Found 2,341 results
  1. News Article
    A new study has linked COVID-19 to complications during pregnancy. Scottish researchers found that women who catch the virus near the end of pregnancy were more vulnerable to birth-related complications. They are more likely to suffer them than women who catch Covid in early pregnancy or not at all. The researchers say getting vaccinated is crucial to protect pregnant women and their babies from life-threatening complications. The latest findings come from the Covid in Pregnancy Study (Cops), which carried out research across Scotland to learn about the incidence and outcomes of Covid-19 infection and vaccination in pregnancy. It is one of the first national studies of pregnancy and Covid. They found that preterm births, stillbirths and newborn deaths were more common among women who had the virus 28 days, or less, before their delivery date. The majority of complications occurred in unvaccinated women. The results, which have been published in Nature Medicine, come after recent data showed 98% of pregnant women admitted to UK intensive care units with coronavirus symptoms were unvaccinated. Researchers are now calling for measures to increase vaccine uptake in pregnant women. Read full story Source: BBC News, 13 January 2022
  2. News Article
    Many supposedly “incidental” infections aren’t really incidental, and cannot be dismissed, writes Ed Yong. More Americans are now hospitalised with COVID-19 than at any previous point in the pandemic. The current count—147,062—has doubled since Christmas, and is set to rise even more steeply, all while Omicron takes record numbers of healthcare workers off the front lines with breakthrough infections. For hospitals, the math of this surge is simple: Fewer staff and more patients mean worse care. Around the United States, people with all kinds of medical emergencies are now waiting hours, if not days, for help. Some reporters and pundits have claimed that this picture is overly pessimistic because the hospitalisation numbers include people who are simply hospitalised with COVID, rather than for COVID—“incidental” patients who just happen to test positive while being treated for something else. In some places, the proportion of such cases seems high. UC San Francisco recently said a third of its COVID patients “are admitted for other reasons,” while the Jackson Health System in Florida put that proportion at half. In New York State, COVID “was not included as one of the reasons for admission” for 43% of the hospitalised people who have tested positive. But the “with COVID” hospitalisation numbers are more complicated than they first seem. Many people on that side of the ledger are still in the hospital because of the coronavirus, which has both caused and exacerbated chronic conditions. And more important, these nuances don’t alter the real, urgent, and enormous crisis unfolding in American hospitals. Whether patients are admitted with or for COVID, they’re still being admitted in record volumes that hospitals are struggling to care for. “The truth is, we’re still in the emergency phase of the pandemic, and everyone who is downplaying that should probably take a tour of a hospital before they do,” says Jeremy Faust, an emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in Massachusetts. Read full story Source: The Atlantic, 12 January 2022
  3. News Article
    Parents are being warned to look out for signs of a non-Covid virus that is “rife” in the UK amid a surge in reports of children struggling to breathe. The British Lung Foundation (BLF) said Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is staging a comeback this winter after lockdown last year meant there were fewer infections than would normally occur. It is concerned that this year children will have “much lower immunity” at a time when the NHS is already under extreme pressure. “In the last few weeks, we have noticed a surge in calls from parents who are worried about their child’s breathing,” said Caroline Fredericks, a respiratory nurse who supports the BLF’s helpline. “Most of these parents have never heard of RSV which is worrying.” RSV is common in babies and children. Almost all will have had it by the time they are two. It may cause a cough or cold but for some it can lead to bronchiolitis, an inflammatory infection of the lower airways which can make it hard to breathe. The early symptoms of bronchiolitis are similar to those of a common cold but can develop over a few days into a high temperature, a dry and persistent cough, difficulty feeding, and wheezing. While many cases clear up in two to three weeks, some children will end up being hospitalised. “There are steps parents can take to make their child more comfortable at home if their RSV develops into bronchiolitis, such as keeping their fluid intake up, helping them to breathe more easily by holding them upright when feeding and giving them paracetamol or ibuprofen suitable for infants,” said Fredericks. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 12 January 2022
  4. News Article
    Hospitals across Kent, Sussex and Surrey are being asked to discharge hundreds of patients who are well enough to leave by Friday. The head of NHS South East, Anne Eden, said the beds are needed to deal with an expected surge in admissions of people ill with the Omicron variant. The NHS nationally has agreed to a reduction of 30% of such patients based on the baseline figure of 13 December. South East hospitals are being asked to make a 50% reduction by 31 January. In a letter seen by the BBC, Ms Eden said: "This is in order to create the headroom to manage any further Covid pressures, with current modelling indicating a peak in Covid activity in mid-January." She wrote: "It is now critical that we redouble our efforts to discharge those patients who no longer require bedded care, to create capacity, improve flow and reduce the pressure on staff." Ms Eden said staff absences and the need to maintain delivery of critical care for patients mean the NHS "must continue to focus on creating the necessary capacity to meet demand". "Failure to do this will significantly increase the risk of a further rise in patient harm," she said. She said hospitals must work with partners, including social care providers, to achieve the reduction in the number of patients in hospital who were well enough to be discharged. Read full story Source: BBC News, 10 January 2022
  5. News Article
    NHS leaders have been accused of downplaying the impact of the Covid crisis and putting hospitals under scrutiny for declaring critical incidents and postponing surgeries. A leaked email urges hospitals to use the “correct terminology” and make NHS leaders aware when declaring their status. Sources said the message was a “thinly veiled threat” and that there was “subtle pressure” amid rapid spread of Omicron. At least 24 trusts have declared critical incidents this week, including one in Northamptonshire on Friday afternoon, while new figures show a 59% rise in staff absences in just seven days. Trusts in London were told hospitals will be scrutinised for declaring a critical incident if there is “doubt” over the decision, according to an internal email sent from NHS England on Wednesday. In light of media coverage, it would be “valuable” to “raise awareness of the key terminology and encourage you to ensure that you are clear ... when considering a declaration,” it said. “National scrutiny on the declaration on incidents has heightened ... and [senior managers] will need to make additional enquiries where there is doubt as to the status of an organisation’s incident.” Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: “We know that the NHS is under enormous pressure and it is important that local trusts are able to be honest and open with parliament and the public about the challenges they’re facing. We are increasingly concerned that ministers are more interested in covering up problems than solving them.” Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem Health spokesperson, said: “This is an insult to every health worker who has given their all, and every patient with cancelled appointments and delayed surgeries. Read full story Source: The Independent, 9 January 2022
  6. News Article
    Occupational health professionals should avoid employment and management matters related to unvaccinated NHS staff, new guidance has warned. The Faculty of Occupational Medicine guidance comes as trusts are considering their options of how to approach patient-facing staff who remain unvaccinated, including their potential redeployment or dismissal. However, HSJ understands some occupational health practitioners are concerned they may become entangled in difficult ethical issues, such as the vaccination status of individual employees, or disciplinary processes. Today’s FOM guidance said: “There is no scope for occupational health practitioners to provide an opinion on medical exemptions, whether to confirm or refute them… “Redeployment, dismissal and other employment consequences of vaccine refusal by a worker, within the scope of the proposed regulations, are entirely employment and management matters, and not an area in which occupational health should be involved.” FOM president Steve Nimmo said: “When the programme is implemented, occupational health professionals should be mindful of ethical and consent issues, and be careful not to be associated with any disciplinary process.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 7 January 2022
  7. News Article
    Pregnant women are being urged not to delay getting their Covid jab or booster in a government campaign. More than 96% of pregnant women admitted to hospital with Covid symptoms between May and October last year were unvaccinated, according to the UK Obstetric Surveillance System. The campaign will share testimonies of pregnant women who have had the jab on radio and social media. The government said the vaccine was safe and had no impact on fertility. In December, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation added pregnant women to the priority list for the vaccine, saying they were at heightened risk from Covid. Around one in five pregnant women admitted to hospital with the virus needed to be delivered pre-term to help them recover, and one in five of their babies needed care in the neonatal unit, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said. Prof Lucy Chappell, chief scientific adviser to the DHSC, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that a third of unvaccinated pregnant women with COVID-19 needed help with breathing and one in six were admitted to intensive care. "We've also seen stillbirths and neonatal deaths in the latest wave," she said. Prof Chappell said the vaccine causes pregnant women to produce antibodies against the virus, which cross over to their babies and give them protection too. Dr Jen Jardine, from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, who is seven months pregnant and has had her booster jab, said: "Both as a doctor and pregnant mother myself, we can now be very confident that the Covid-19 vaccinations provide the best possible protection for you and your unborn child against this virus." Read full story Source: BBC News, 10 January 2022
  8. News Article
    The Covid-19 pandemic has entered its third year, with no end in sight, and the world is fed up to the gills. A new and even more highly transmissible variant, Omicron, has been scorching through holiday gatherings over the past couple of weeks. People who are thrice vaccinated are among the infected. STAT asks Mike Ryan, head of the health emergencies programme at the World Health Organization, if he expected the pandemic to last as long as it has, who should make the call on whether to update Covid vaccines, and what he thinks are the main mistakes the world has made. “What’s shocked me most in this pandemic has been that absence or loss of trust,” he said of people’s unwillingness to follow the advice of public health leaders and the containment policies set out by governments," says Ryan. Read full interview Source: STAT, 3 January 2022
  9. News Article
    The government has announced 200 military personnel are being deployed to “support the NHS in London amid staff shortages due to COVID-19”. The 200 figure is equivalent to about 1.8% of the covid-related absences in acute trusts in the capital on Wednesday, and 0.2% of the national all-trust total of 120,000. The Ministry of Defence will provide 40 defence medics and 160 general duty personnel, it said. The first were deployed this week, including in Whipps Cross in east London. According to the minutes of an internal meeting held by senior leadership at the hospital, 10 general duty military personnel have been deployed. They do not have clinical training so cannot take blood, but will undertake general duties, such as feeding patients and communication with teams and relatives. Staff absences from NHS trusts hit nearly 120,000 on Wednesday after another increase, HSJ has learned. Figures due to be published by NHS England are expected to show there were total absences across acute trusts of just over 80,000 on 2 January, down from more than 85,000 on 30 December. However, figures seen by HSJ show that, after the end of the new year bank holiday period, this acute trusts figure leapt to more than 92,000 by Wednesday (5 January). Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 7 January 2022
  10. News Article
    Trusts will be told next week how they should go about dismissing potentially thousands of NHS staff who have decided not to be vaccinated against covid, HSJ has learned. Last year, the government decided all patient-facing NHS staff would need to have received their first dose of the covid vaccine by 3 February, and two doses by April 2022. The stipulation covers non-clinical staff who may have face-to-face contact with patients, such as receptionists, porters and cleaners. NHS England published the first part of its guidance for employers in December last year, which warned staff who have to be redeployed because of a refusal to have the covid vaccination could be forced to compete for their job and also have their pay and pension affected. HSJ understands NHSE will issue its ‘phase two’ guidance’ next week. To date, government and NHSE announcements or guidance have not mentioned what will happen to patient-facing staff who refuse to be redeployed or are exempt from the requirement. However, HSJ understands the new guidance will make it clear that — while redeployment remains the preferred outcome — some staff are likely to be dismissed and trusts should be prepared for taking that action next month. Read full story Source: HSJ, 6 January 2022
  11. News Article
    The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned against describing the Omicron variant as mild, saying it is killing people across the world. Recent studies suggest that Omicron is less likely to make people seriously ill than previous Covid variants. But the record number of people catching it has left health systems under severe pressure, said WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. On Monday, the US recorded more than one million Covid cases in 24 hours. The WHO - the UN's health agency - said the number of global cases has increased by 71% in the last week, and in the Americas by 100%. It said that among severe cases worldwide, 90% were unvaccinated. "While Omicron does appear to be less severe compared to Delta, especially in those vaccinated, it does not mean it should be categorised as mild," Dr Tedros told a press conference on Thursday. "Just like previous variants, Omicron is hospitalising people and it is killing people. "In fact, the tsunami of cases is so huge and quick, that it is overwhelming health systems around the world." Read full story Source: BBC News, 6 January 2022
  12. News Article
    Thousands of overseas-qualified doctors wanting to work in the UK will be delayed after the General Medical Council cancelled exams due to the surge in Covid cases. The regulator said its decision to pause professional and linguistic assessment board tests, scheduled for January and February, was made “in direct response” to the current omicron wave. Up to 54 doctors would have been needed each per day as examiners, it said, alongside a “large number of role players and staff”. It comes as overseas recruitment is seen by government and national officials as a crucial way to boost NHS staffing, including GPs. Director of registration Una Lane said: “We are deeply disappointed to have to cancel exams at this time, but given the pressures on the NHS and the impact on examiner availability, it was the only viable option.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 6 January 2022
  13. News Article
    More than one in four inpatients at one of England’s largest mental health trusts were reported as covid-positive this week, according to data seen by HSJ. Around 160 inpatients across South London and Maudsley (SLAM) Foundation Trust’s sites, or 28% of its total open beds, were reported as positive at the beginning of the week. Several other London mental health trusts have seen high rates of covid cases in recent weeks, as there has been enormous spread of the omicron variant in the capital, although rates have not been as high as at SLAM. SLAM told HSJ that infection rates rose and fell in a reflection of community transmission, with covid-positive people being admitted, and there being spread within inpatient units. While no wards have been closed and all of the trust’s services are open, visiting was suspended in mid-December due to what the organisation described on its website as a “high number of [covid] outbreaks”. Several sources in the sector told HSJ there had been widespread omicron outbreaks in mental health units across England. They said the nature of psychiatric wards and use of restraints meant adhering to stringent social distancing measures, in the face of a highly infectious variant, was more difficult than in other settings. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 6 January 2022
  14. News Article
    A health minister has asked NHS England to look into a stricken ambulance trust that is asking patients to get a lift to A&E. The North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) said staff should “consider asking the patient to be transported by friends or family.” See previous news story. NEAS medical director Dr Mathew Beattie said the service had “no option than to try to work differently” amid Covid staff shortages. However, Health Minister Gillian Keegan said she would ask NHS England to look into the situation. She told Sky News: "That is not what we have put in place at all. We have more ambulance crews in operation than we have ever had." “We also gave £55 million extra just for this period to cover staff and make sure we had increases in staff and staffing levels. "I've actually asked NHS England to look at that particular case because that doesn't sound to me like that's an acceptable approach. “People should be able to get an ambulance if they have a heart attack and that's why we've put that extra funding in place, and why we've been building up our ambulance service over the last couple of years." Read full story Source: Mirror, 5 January 2022
  15. News Article
    Care operators are facing acute staffing shortages caused by Omicron with more than 90 declaring a “red” alert, which means staffing ratios have been breached. Over 11,000 care home workers are off for Covid reasons, according to internal health system staffing data seen by the Guardian. One of the UK’s largest private operators, Barchester, is dealing with outbreaks in 105 of its 250 homes. It said that rules meaning homes with Covid cannot accept hospital discharges will cause backlogs in the already struggling NHS. Across England, 9.4% of care home staff are off work, according to government live data, with close to 3% absent because of Covid. The figures, which may be an underestimate because of the festive break, are drawn from submissions by thousands of care providers. “The spread of Omicron across the country will bring more care homes into outbreak, put huge pressure on the already compromised staff group and mean those who need care do not get it,” said Vic Rayner, chief executive of the National Care Forum. Many care operators said delays in getting PCR test results back were a key frustration, meaning workers who may not be infected were isolating longer than necessary." Stephen Chandler, president of the Association of Directors of Social Services, said councils were braced for calls for help from care operators and said “the care that people experience will be affected”. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 5 January 2022
  16. News Article
    NHS staff absences due to covid have risen by a further 11,000 staff in a week in England, figures seen by HSJ reveal. At a national level, the number of absences for covid-related reasons - including isolation - rose to about 44,200 on 29 December, up from 32,800 on 22 December. The 29 December figure has pushed up overall absence for all reasons to 103,727 - 7.8% of the total reported workforce - the leaked data shows. Numerous senior NHS managers have said their main concern at present is about the level of staff absences, which in some cases is undermining services, with staff having to be redeployed to support others. There is concern about it rising further in the new year. One trust is looking at whether staff who test positive could opt to work on wards dedicated to covid patients. Louise Ashley, the chief executive of Dartford and Gravesham Trust in Kent, tweeted yesterday that some nurses had asked if they could come into work while positive but asymptomatic. Ms Ashley later confirmed to HSJ that the trust had assessed the request and “unfortunately” had to refuse it. The two main reasons for the decision were that staff may have the more dangerous Delta strain and that it be too difficult to keep them isolated from other staff. She added: ”I am amazed at their commitment to their patients and colleagues – very humbling after the two years they have been through. We are seeing high levels of staff absenteeism but we are hurrying through PCR tests to get staff back to work and are managing safe staffing levels currently.” There is also growing concern over NHS staff access to testing, which is required to enable contacts to come to work if they are negative. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 31 December 2021
  17. News Article
    NHS England has set out 10 priorities for 2022-23 in its annual planning guidance. NHSE chief executive Amanda Pritchard makes clear in an introduction that many of its goals remain contingent on covid, stating: ”The objectives set out in this document are based on a scenario where covid-19 returns to a low level and we are able to make significant progress in the first part of next year.” The 10 priorities are: Workforce investment, including “strengthening the compassionate and inclusive culture needed to deliver outstanding care”. Responding to COVID-19. Delivering “significantly more elective care to tackle the elective backlog”. Improving “the responsiveness of urgent and emergency care and community care capacity.” Increasing timely access to primary care, “maximising the impact of the investment in primary medical care and primary care networks”. Maintaining “continued growth in mental health investment to transform and expand community health services and improve access”. Using data and analytics to “redesign care pathways and measure outcomes with a focus on improving access and health equity for underserved communities”. Achieving “a core level of digitisation in every service across systems”. Returning to and better “prepandemic levels of productivity”. Establishing integrated care boards and collaborative system working, and “working together with local authorities and other partners across their ICS to develop a five-year strategic plan for their system and places”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 24 December 2021
  18. News Article
    A critical incident has been declared at four Lincolnshire hospitals because of staff shortages due to COVID-19. United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust said it was taking "additional steps to maintain services" at all its hospitals in Lincoln, Boston and Grantham. The trust's medical director, Dr Colin Farquharson, said there were "significant staffing pressures due to absence related to COVID-19". But he said essential services "remain fully open". According to a leaked email seen by The Sunday Times, the trust declared a critical incident on Saturday night "due to extreme and unprecedented workforce shortages". It issued an "urgent appeal" for clinical and non-clinical staff to offer extra time supporting colleagues "over the next 72 hours". It also asked staff to "consider limiting social contacts with people outside of work". Original tweet on Twitter: Read full story Source: BBC News, 3 January 2022
  19. News Article
    Coronavirus "surge hubs" are to be set up at hospitals across England in preparation for a potential wave of Omicron admissions, the NHS has said. The eight temporary "Nightingale" units will each house about 100 patients, with building starting this week. There are also plans to identify sites for a further 4,000 beds if needed. Record Covid case numbers were reported in the UK on Wednesday and NHS medical director Prof Stephen Powis said the service was on a "war footing". The NHS is often required to deploy extra beds over winter, but hospitalisations in England with Covid have risen above 10,000 for the first time since March. Across the UK 183,037 daily cases were reported in the latest figures, with over 900,000 cases reported over the last seven days - up 41.4% on the week before. Prof Powis said the NHS "cannot wait to find out before we act" given the number of infections and uncertainty about Omicron's severity. Read full story Source: BBC News, 30 December 2021
  20. News Article
    The government has been criticised for failing to respond to a damning parliamentary report that accused ministers of mishandling the early stages of the pandemic. The report, compiled by the Health and Science and Technology Committees, found the government’s initial response to Covid-19 “amounted in practice” to the pursuit of herd immunity, with the delayed decision to lock down ranking as one of the “most important public health failures the United Kingdom has ever experienced”. More than 50 witnesses contributed to the cross-party report, including ministers, NHS officials, government advisers and leading scientists, with the authors saying it was was “vital” that lessons were learnt from the failings of the past 18 months. The findings from the joint inquiry were published on 12 October and a deadline for an official government response was set for 12 December. However, that date has now passed and the committees have yet to formally hear back from ministers, according to the parliamentary website, which states that a response is now “overdue”. Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice said the government’s failure to “meet a very reasonable deadline” called into question the willingness of ministers to engage with the coming independent public inquiry into the UK’s handling of the pandemic. "The government have had months to get a response delivered to the Health and Science and Technology committees following their lessons leant from the pandemic report,” said Jo Goodmand, co-founder of the campaign group. “Unfortunately those of us who have lost loved ones are far too used to this with responses to FOIs late and it taking far too long to announce the inquiry. Read full story Source: 30 December 2021
  21. News Article
    The health secretary, Sajid Javid, has warned MPs he may need to “constrain” the Covid testing system over the next fortnight, as demand for lateral flow kits surges. Ministers have repeatedly encouraged members of the public to test themselves using a lateral flow device (LFD) before attending gatherings or meeting vulnerable relatives. However, test kits have repeatedly been unavailable online in recent days, and many pharmacies have complained of being unable to secure them. Labour has accused the government of presiding over a “shambles”, with many members of the public struggling to obtain tests despite ministers putting testing at the centre of efforts to control the spread of Omicron. Demand for the tests has also been boosted by a change in quarantine rules that allows people to emerge from self-isolation after seven days instead of 10, as long as they carry out two negative lateral flow tests. In a letter sent to MPs on Wednesday evening, Javid acknowledged the intense strain being put on the system as cases of the Omicron variant continue to increase, with 183,037 new infections recorded on Wednesday. “In light of the huge demand for LFDs seen over the last three weeks, we expect to need to constrain the system at certain points over the next two weeks to manage supply over the course of each day, with new tranches of supply released regularly throughout each day,” he wrote. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 30 November 2021
  22. News Article
    Data from a new study suggests that the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 can persist in different parts of the body for months after infection, including the heart and brain. Scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found the virus can spread widely from the respiratory tract to almost every other organ in the body and linger for months. The researchers described the study as the "most comprehensive analysis to date" of the virus's persistence throughout the body and brain. They performed autopsies on 44 patients who died either from or with COVID-19 to map and quantify virus distribution across the body. Daniel Chertow, principal investigator in the NIH’s emerging pathogens section, said along with his colleagues that RNA from the virus was found in patients up to 230 days after symptom onset. The findings, released in a pre-print manuscript, shed new light on patients who suffer from Long Covid. The study found that the virus had replicated across multiple organ systems even among patients with asymptomatic to mild COVID-19. While the "highest burden" of infection was in the lungs and airway, the study showed the virus can "disseminate early during infection and infect cells throughout the entire body,” including in the brain, as well as in ocular tissue, muscles, skin, peripheral nerves and tissues in the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, endocrine and lymphatic systems. "Our data support an early viremic phase, which seeds the virus throughout the body following pulmonary infection," the researchers wrote. Read full story Source: The Hill, 27 December 2021
  23. News Article
    Patients are dying in hospital without their families because of pressure on NHS services, hospices have told The Independent. A major care provider has warned that it has seen a “huge shift” in the number of patients referred too late to its services. The warning comes as NHS England begins a new £32m contract with hospices to help hospitals discharge as many patients as possible this winter. NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard said the health service was preparing for an Omicron-driven Covid wave that could be as disruptive as, or even worse than, last winter’s crisis. Hospices are already dealing with a “huge volume of death and patients needing support”, according to the head of policy at Hospice UK, Dominic Carter. He told The Independent that hospices had seen a huge shift in the number of patients referred to their services too late, when they are in a “very serious” state of health. He added: “We don’t really know what kind of support is actually out there for those people, while hospitals have difficulties and deal with challenges around backlogs and Covid. There are lots of people that have been in the community, where hospices are trying to reach them but aren’t always able to identify who needs that care and support. “They’re really important, those five or six final days, for the individual and their families. Yet this is spent in crisis rather than being helped as much as possible in a comfortable environment by the hospice ... [instead] an ambulance is called, and they’re having to be cast into hospital.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 26 December 2021
  24. News Article
    NHS staff treating Covid patients should be given much more protective facewear than thin surgical masks to help them avoid getting infected during the Omicron rise, doctors say. The British Medical Association (BMA), Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA) and Doctors’ Association UK are calling for frontline personnel to be given FFP3 masks. Making the much higher-quality face masks standard issue would save the lives of health workers who fall ill as a result of treating Covid patients, the BMA said. “At this critical point in the pandemic this is extremely urgent – a matter of life and death,” said Prof Raymond Agius, the acting chair of the doctors’ union’s occupational health committee. FFP3 masks, also known as filtering facepiece respirators, have been shown in a trial in Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge to reduce the number of healthcare staff who become infected. However, the Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) guidance on personal protective equipment, updated last week, only recommends their use in limited circumstances. “With a high transmissible new strain now circulating, and clear evidence that Covid-19 spreads in small airborne particles, healthcare workers must be given the best possible protection against the virus. Surgical masks don’t give the necessary protection against airborne transmission of Covid,” Agius said. The BMA has written to every hospital trust in England demanding that any health professional treating patients who are or may be Covid-positive should be routinely issued with FFP3s, which are much more expensive than the surgical masks usually provided. Surgical masks are “unsuitable” given the threat Covid poses, the BMA believes. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 27 December 2021
  25. News Article
    Mass lateral flow testing cut the number of people needing hospital treatment for Covid by 32% and relieved significant pressure on the NHS when the measures were piloted last year, a study has shown. Liverpool conducted the first city-wide testing scheme using rapid antigen tests in November last year, amid debate about whether or not lateral flow tests (LFTs) were accurate enough to detect the virus in asymptomatic carriers. It expanded the project to cover the whole of the Liverpool region, offering people LFTs whether or not they had symptoms. Key workers did daily tests before going to work to show they were not infectious. Now an analysis has shown that it was more successful than Liverpool’s scientists and public health teams had anticipated, after they compared Covid cases and outcomes in the region with other parts of England. Professor Iain Buchan, dean of the Institute of Population Health, who led the evaluation, said: “This time last year, as the Alpha variant was surging, we found that Liverpool city region’s early rollout of community rapid testing was associated with a 32% fall in Covid-19 hospital admissions after careful matching to other parts of the country in a similar position to Liverpool but without rapid testing. “We also found that daily lateral flow testing as an alternative to quarantine for people who had been in close contact with a known infected person enabled emergency services to keep key teams such as fire crews in work, underpinning public safety.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 19 December 2021
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