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News Article
NHS worker quit when she was stopped from wearing face mask
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A healthcare worker in north-west London quit her job after she was refused permission to wear a protective face mask, the Guardian has learned. In her resignation letter, Tracy Brennan chastised her superiors at Hillingdon Hospitals NHS foundation trust for forbidding her from wearing a surgical mask she had bought to protect herself – and the patients she was caring for – from contracting the deadly virus. Brennan, a healthcare assistant, said she had returned to work after self-isolating for 14 days because her daughter had shown symptoms of Covid-19. She said that patients in the ward where she was working, which was not a coronavirus treatment ward, felt comfortable with her wearing the surgical mask and some positively encouraged her to do so. Brennan wrote: “With a heavy heart and sadness, I feel I have no alternative but to hand this letter in as my formal resignation and will be unable to work my notice due to not being allowed to wear sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) for the duties I perform.” Read full story Source: Guardian, 4 April 2020 -
News Article
Non-acute services to receive 30 million PPE products
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Adult social care services are to receive millions of personal protective equipment products following a national audit of personal protective equipment (PPE), HSJ can reveal. The government will deliver more than 30 million items to local resilience forums in the coming days, for distribution among social care and other front-line services, according to a letter seen by HSJ. The stock should not be sent to acute trusts or ambulance services, the letter, from health and social care secretary Matt Hancock and housing, communities and local government secretary Robert Jenrick, stated. Describing an “urgent need” for PPE in front-line services, Mr Hancock and Mr Jenrick asked local planners to distribute this latest batch of stock “only where there is a clear and pressing need”. Read full story Source: HSJ, 6 April 2020 -
Content ArticleBlog published in the Guardian from an NHS respiratory consultant.
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News Article
Expectant mothers turn to freebirthing after home births cancelled
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
When Victoria Gianopoulos-Johnson got a call from her midwife to say her home birth would be cancelled, panic took hold. She says she “lost it” for two days, crying constantly, gripped by uncertainty and then anger. Now she has reached the decision to have a free birth, also known as unassisted childbirth. Maternity rights groups say there has been a rise in the number of women seeking advice about freebirthing owing to pressures on hospitals and new restrictions around birth partners. More than a fifth of birthing centres and more than a third of homebirth services have closed due to a shortage of midwives and concerns about ambulance response times. Alison Edwards, of Doula UK, whose 700 members advocate for expectant mothers, says she has seen a threefold increase in calls about freebirthing in the last fortnight. “Initially women were concerned about staff shortages,” says Edwards. “Now they don’t want to go to hospital at all, it’s about infection. It is inevitable that some who should not be freebirthing because they are in a high-risk category will give birth at home because they fear the alternative – infection from [coronavirus] or spending time in hospital without their partner’s support.” Read full story Source: Guardian, 5 April 2020 -
News Article
Coronavirus: Nearly 400 care groups 'face protection shortages'
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Almost 400 care companies which provide home support across the UK have told the BBC they still do not have enough personal protective equipment (PPE). Without protection, providers say they may not be able to care for people awaiting hospital discharge. Of 481 providers, 381 (80%) said they did not have enough PPE to be able to support older and vulnerable people. The government said it was working "around the clock" to give the sector the equipment it needs. The BBC sent questions to the nearly 3,000 members of the UK Homecare Association. About a quarter of respondents said they have either run out of masks or have less than a week's supply left. Read full story Source: BBC News, 6 April 2020 -
News Article
'Dial 999 for stroke emergencies despite coronavirus'
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
People who may be having a stroke should still call 999 for emergency medical care, even during the coronavirus pandemic, say UK experts. They are concerned that many are not seeking urgent help when they most need it, possibly due to fear of the virus or not wanting to burden the NHS. Any delay in seeking help can lead to disability or even death, warns the Stroke Association. Prompt assessment and treatment saves lives, it says. Data suggest people are currently staying away from hospitals, which is fine unless you really need care. Latest figures for England and Scotland suggest attendance to Emergency Departments has dropped by over a third on the same week last year. Those who need urgent medical help should still attend, say experts. Read full story Source: BBC News, 6 April 2020 -
Content ArticleThis question and answer web page from the World Health Organization provides key information about pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding in relation to the Covid-19 outbreak. Questions include:Are pregnant women at higher risk from Covid-19?I’m pregnant. How can I protect myself against Covid-19?Should pregnant women be tested for Covid-19?Can Covid-19 be passed from a woman to her unborn or newborn baby?What care should be available during pregnancy and childbirth?Do pregnant women with suspected or confirmed Covid-19 need to give birth by caesarean section?Can women with Covid-19 breastfeed?Can I touch and hold my newborn baby if I have Covid-19?I have Covid-19 and am too unwell to breastfeed my baby directly. What can I do?
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Content Article
This poster has been developed by Dr Antonia Field-Smith and Dr Louise Robinson from the Palliative Care Team at West Middlesex Hospital. It provides a guide for communicating with relatives with compassion during the Covid-19 pandemic.- Posted
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Content ArticleThe health and care system in the United Kingdom is facing a huge challenge, placing enormous pressure on health and care staff with unprecedented demands on leaders, wherever they work. These pages, from the King's Fund, aim to provide support to health and care leaders, whether you are working in the NHS, social care, public health or the voluntary and independent sector.
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News ArticleNational NHS leaders are to take action over growing fears that the “unintended consequences” of focusing so heavily on tackling covid-19 could do more harm than the virus, HSJ has learned. NHS England analysts have been tasked with the challenging task of identifying patients who may not have the virus but may be at risk of significant harm or death because they are missing vital appointments or not attending emergency departments, with both the service and public so focused on covid-19. A senior NHS source familiar with the programme told HSJ: “There could be some very serious unintended consequences [to all the resource going into fighting coronavirus]. While there will be a lot of covid-19 fatalities, we could end up losing more ‘years of life’ because of fatalities relating to non-covid-19 health complications. “What we don’t want to do is take our eye off the ball in terms of all the core business and all the other healthcare issues the NHS normally attends to." “People will be developing symptoms of serious but treatable diseases, babies will be born which need immunising, and people will be developing breast lumps and need mammograms.” HSJ understands system leaders are hopeful that in the coming days they will be able to assess the scale of the problem, and the key patient groups, and then begin planning the right interventions and communications programme to tackle it. Read full story Source: HSJ, 5 April 2020
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News ArticleSingapore plans to open source a smartphone app its digital government team has developed to track citizens' encounters with coronavirus carriers. The app, named TraceTogether, and its government is urging citizens to run so that if they encounter a Coronavirus carrier, it’s easier to trace who else may have been exposed to the virus. With that info in hand, health authorities are better-informed about who needs to go into quarantine and can focus their resources on those who most need assistance. The app is opt-in and doesn’t track users through space, instead recording who you have encountered. To do so, it requires Bluetooth and location services to be turned on when another phone running the app comes into range exchanges four nuggets of information - a timestamp, Bluetooth signal strength, the phone’s model, and a temporary identifier or device nickname. While location services are required, the app doesn't track users, instead helping to calculate distances between them. Read full story Source: The Register, 26 March 2020
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News Article
Children may be COVID-19 ‘collateral damage’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Children may have died from non-coronavirus illnesses because they are not coming to hospital quickly enough, amid concerns NHS 111 may be giving flawed advice to stay away, according to senior paediatricians. HSJ understands the concern about 111 giving the wrong advice to parents who should travel to hospital had been “escalated” to national leaders. Several senior paediatric leaders in London raised serious concerns to HSJ. They said several children in the past week had been admitted to intensive care in London, and had been harmed — and, in some cases, died — because of the issue, though they did not want to identify particular hospitals or cases. The sources said it was a national problem. Read full story Source: HSJ, 3 April 2020 -
News Article
Covid-stricken city calls in Babylon to ‘relieve pressure’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Royal Wolverhampton Trust (RWT) has become the first provider to sign a deal with Babylon Health for citywide coverage of a new COVID-19 app, HSJ has learned. Digital health provider Babylon announced earlier this month the creation of a “covid-19 care assistant” app, which provides patients with digital triage, a live chat service, a symptom tracker and video consultation. RWT’s deal covers around 300,000 patients registered to a Wolverhampton GP, and all trust staff regardless of where they live. Earlier this year, RWT announced a 10-year deal with Babylon to develop a “digital-first integrated care” model. The new COVID-19 app will be made available to staff today and will then be rolled out to the general public next week. Read full story Source: HSJ, 3 April 2020 -
News Article
UK healthcare regulator brands resuscitation strategy unacceptable
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Elderly care home residents have been categorised “en masse” as not requiring resuscitation, in a strategy branded unacceptable by the healthcare regulator. People in care homes in Hove, East Sussex and south Wales are among those who have had “do not attempt resuscitation” (DNAR) notices applied to their care plans during the coronavirus outbreak without proper consultation with them or their families, MPs and medical unions fear. Care homes in Leeds have reported that district nurses have been asking them to “revisit do not resuscitate conversations with people who said they didn’t want them” and a care worker in Wales told the Guardian that after a visit from a GP, all 20 of their residents had DNAR notices attached to their plans. DNAR notices are a common part of care plans and many people wish to have them in place because, in the event of cardiac arrest, attempts to resuscitate can cause serious trauma, including broken bones. But the Care Quality Commission and other medical bodies are so concerned about the blanket application of the notices that it has issued a warning to stop. “It is unacceptable for advance care plans, with or without DNAR form completion, to be applied to groups of people of any description,” the notice states. “These decisions must continue to be made on an individual basis according to need.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 1 April 2020 -
News Article
NHS trusts suspend life-saving organ transplants
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Major transplant centres have stopped performing many of their procedures due to the coronavirus pandemic, while the national coordinating body says a complete cessation “may only be days away”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 2 April 2020 -
Content ArticleThis link provides a framework for end of life care and breaking bad news during the Covid-19 pandemic. It has been created by e-LfH, a Health Education England Programme in partnership with the NHS and Professional Bodies. Resources include: Discussion of Unwelcome News during Covid-19 Pandemic: a framework for health and social care professionals Covid-19: Evidence-based advice for difficult conversations Scottish Quality and Safety Partnership Poster - unwelcome news Real Talk Framework Telephone Prompt List Real Talk Framework Sketch Note Video 1 - The framework Video 2 - Community (Advance Care Planning: how I have the conversation) Video 3 - Breaking bad news Video 4 - Ceilings of Treatment. Nb: The below link will take you to a landing page. To access the end of life resources listed above, you will need to go to the 'End of Life Care' folder and then to 'Documents and Videos'.
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News Article
Oak Springs: Third fatality at Liverpool care home where 52 have symptoms
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
On any normal day the Oak Springs Care home in Liverpool is a hive of activity, laughter ringing out as its elderly residents enjoy dancing, creative crafts and bingo. Yesterday it was quiet, the inhabitants confined to their bedrooms and stark notices on the door warning visitors against entering, as word spread that a third resident had died in hospital that morning after a corona-virus diagnosis. Of the 66 remaining residents, 52 are exhibiting symptoms. Four were put on end-of-life care plans this week, a situation described by Andrea Lyons, the general manager, as “our absolute worst nightmare”. She said: “These are people who we love, who we spend more time with than our families. It has been difficult beyond the worst you can imagine”. Read full story Source: The Times, 2 April 2020 -
Content ArticleThe Specialist Pharmacy Service (SPS) is supporting healthcare professionals with the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme in England. Read about how they are helping and the resources available.
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News Article
Coronavirus testing plans in chaos
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Boris Johnson has been forced to shift strategy on the government’s testing regime for coronavirus after criticism of the slow pace of checks being carried out on frontline NHS staff. Private laboratories are now being drafted in to do the tests where before these were being performed through a centralised process. The prime minister accepted last night that mass testing was the way out of the crisis and said in a tweet that it would “eventually unlock the puzzle of coronavirus”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 2 April 2020 -
News Article
Coronavirus: Special needs parents in 'survival mode'
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A father has described the "huge impact" of losing respite care for his young daughter who has complex special needs. Tim Clarke and his wife Ana look after their six-year-old daughter Molly at home in Worcester. The family normally receives a few hours of outside care and educational help a week, but that ended with the coronavirus pandemic. Molly has been diagnosed with autism and also has medical issues including a cyst on her brain. One charity worker from the Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) Society, a condition which is on the autism spectrum, described parents of children with special needs as being in "survival mode". Watch video Source: BBC News, 1 April 2020 -
News Article
Online triage tools to be ‘rapidly procured’ to manage COVID-19 pressures
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The procurement of digital tools to support online primary care services during the coronavirus outbreak are to be fast-tracked for providers who don’t have the resources. In a letter sent to primary care providers and commissioners, GP surgeries were told to move to a triage-first model of care as soon as possible as the NHS bolsters its response to COVID-19. The letter, sent by medical director for primary care, Nikita Kanani, and director of primary care strategy and NHS contracts, Ed Waller, states practices and commissioners should promote online consultation services where they are in place or “rapidly procure” them. “Rapid procurement for those practices that do not currently have an online consultation solution will be supported through a national bundled procurement,” wrote in the letter. Read full story Source: Digital Health, 30 March 2020 -
News ArticleDoctors have been reminded not to prioritise coronavirus patients at the expense of others in new ethical guidance backed by royal colleges. There are increasing concerns that patients are not getting treatment for serious problems, including strokes or heart attacks, because they are afraid to go to hospitals. The guidelines were drawn up by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) amid worries that a shortage of ventilators and beds could force doctors to make difficult decisions on which patients get lifesaving treatment. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 2 April 2020
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Content ArticleThe Royal College of Physicians has published ethical guidance for frontline staff dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, supported by more than a dozen other health organisations. Members of the RCP’s Committee on Ethical Issues in Medicine, chaired by Dr Alexis Paton, developed the guidance, which is supported by nine other Royal Colleges and five medical faculties. It takes into consideration recent joint statements from the General Medical Council (GMC), the NHS and the UK’s four Chief Medical Officers. The guidance reminds frontline staff that while so much has changed during the pandemic, they still need to ensure that care is provided in a fair and equitable way.
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News Article
Virus patients more likely to die may have ventilators taken away
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Stable coronavirus patients could be taken off ventilators in favour of those more likely to survive, it emerged on Wednesday, as another sharp rise in deaths left the UK braced for the outbreak to reach up to 1,000 deaths a day by the end of the week. In a stark new document issued by the British Medical Association (BMA), doctors set out guidelines to ration care if the NHS becomes overwhelmed with new cases as the outbreak moves towards its peak. Under the proposals, designed to provide doctors with ethical guidance on how to decide who should get life-saving care when resources are overstretched, hospitals would have to impose severe limits on who is put on a ventilator. Large numbers of patients could be denied care, with those facing a poor prognosis losing the potentially life-saving equipment even if their condition is improving. The BMA suggested that younger, healthier people could be given priority over older people and that those with an underlying illness may not get treatment that could save them, with healthier patients given priority instead. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 1 April 2020 -
News Article
Major acute tells staff to work despite isolation guidance
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A major hospital trust has told staff they should attend work even if a household member is showing covid-19 symptoms, contrary to national guidance. Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals Foundation Trust’s occupational health department has told staff who had reported having family members with covid-19 symptoms they were still expected to attend work. In the email exchanges seen by HSJ, some as recently as a couple of days ago, the trust’s occupational health department was clear there was an NUTH policy agreement with Public Health England. Read full story Source: HSJ, 1 April 2020
