David McWilliams is a consultant physiotherapist helping ICU patients recover from Covid-19 – from when they first open their eyes since arriving to their first steps. His team support patients at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth hospital, which has one of the largest critical care units in Europe and recently was treating more than 200 Covid-19 patients at one time
Continue reading...Category Archives: Hospitals
Drivers tell of chaos at UK’s privately run PPE stockpile
Allegations raise questions over Movianto’s management of government stocks during coronavirus outbreak
The private firm contracted to run the government’s stockpile of personal protective equipment (PPE) was beset by “chaos” at its warehouse that may have resulted in delays in deploying vital supplies to healthcare workers, according to sources who have spoken to the Guardian and ITV News.
The allegations from delivery drivers and other well–placed sources raise questions about whether Movianto, the subsidiary of a US healthcare giant, was able to adequately manage and distribute the nation’s emergency stockpile of PPE for use in a pandemic.
Continue reading...Why BAME people may be more at risk from coronavirus – video explainer
NHS staff from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds may be given roles away from the frontline under plans to reduce their disproportionately high death rate from Covid-19.
The Guardian revealed last week that minority groups were over-represented by as much as 27% in the overall Covid-19 death toll. Additionally, 63% of the first 106 health and social care staff known to have died from the virus were black or Asian, according to the Health Service Journal.
Senior reporter Haroon Siddique looks at the figures and explains why BAME people may be more at risk.
- British BAME Covid-19 death rate 'more than twice that of whites'
- ‘So much living to do’: stories of UK's coronavirus victims
New York ER doctor who treated coronavirus patients dies by suicide
Dr Lorna Breen worked at New York-Presbyterian Allen hospital and was ‘truly in the trenches’, her father said
A top emergency room doctor in New York who was working on the frontline trying to save coronavirus victims at the height of the pandemic and also suffered the disease herself has died.
Continue reading...Why the UK is finding it so hard to reach 100,000 Covid-19 tests a day
A slow start, a top-down approach and long-term cuts to local services meant target was always going to be ambitious
On 2 April, the day he emerged from quarantine after testing positive for Covid-19, Matt Hancock stood at the Downing Street podium for the daily coronavirus press conference and made an announcement that was greeted in some quarters by a sharp intake of breath.
“I’m now setting the goal of 100,000 tests per day by the end of this month. That is the goal and I’m determined we’ll get there,” said the health secretary, who had tested positive around a week earlier.
Continue reading...Nurse shortage causes Nightingale hospital to turn away patients
Exclusive: Covid-19 patient transfers to new London facility cancelled owing to lack of ICU nurses
Dozens of patients with Covid-19 have been turned away from the NHS Nightingale hospital in London because it has too few nurses to treat them, the Guardian can reveal.
Epidemics of infectious diseases behave in different ways but the 1918 influenza pandemic that killed more than 50 million people is regarded as a key example of a pandemic that occurred in multiple waves, with the latter more severe than the first. It has been replicated – albeit more mildly – in subsequent flu pandemics.
Continue reading...‘I accepted the very first patient’: one nurse’s first week at NHS Nightingale – video
Jo, a nurse practitioner, documents her first week at one of the largest field hospitals in the world: the Nightingale at the London ExCeL centre. The hospital was built in nine days with a capacity for up to 4,000 patients in reaction to the global coronavirus outbreak
- Anywhere but Westminster | Life in lockdown: families on the brink
- Coronavirus – latest global updates
Covid-19 appeal to benefit NHS staff through array of charities
Fundraisers for NHS Charities Together aim for £100m goal
The fundraising effort of Tom Moore, the 99-year-old who inspired many with his sponsored garden walk, drawing in £15m on behalf of the NHS, has focused attention on the health service charities which stand to benefit.
Captain Moore’s 100 laps of his garden began on 8 April with a target of £1,000 which snowballed rapidly as his efforts received national TV and social media exposure. The £15m he has raised dwarfs the £10m donated to the fund by the Duke of Westminster, and the £5m given by the Rausing family, and puts the Covid-19 Appeal, launched Monday,well on the way to its £100m target.
Continue reading...‘I feel fear and guilt’: an NHS junior doctor on the effect of getting Covid-19
Rosie Hughes has tested positive for the coronavirus that has killed so many of her patients
I am a junior doctor. In the past few weeks I have seen dozens of people die from Covid-19. I am 25 years old. I’ve been working in the NHS for just over eight months at a major metropolitan hospital. When my colleagues and I decided to apply for medical school six years ago, we knew that we were signing up for a challenge. We were under no illusion that it would be an easy ride. But I don’t think any of us imagined that we would be on the frontline of a pandemic less than a year into our careers.
I have cared for patients from admission until death and I have held their hands when they have been too breathless to speak. I have fought hard for a patient to be considered for ventilation despite knowing that they didn’t meet the criteria. I stayed with them after my shift had ended, gowned and gloved, and watched them take their last breaths, knowing that a few months ago they might have stood a chance. I ring families to tell them that their loved one who came into hospital for something totally unrelated now has coronavirus and will not survive.
Continue reading...Is hotel quarantine putting the health of vulnerable people at risk?
Thousands of travellers returning from overseas have been forced to quarantine in hotels to reduce the spread of coronavirus. Some say the conditions there are shocking, with reports that some people have been denied access to urgent medical care. In this episode of Full Story, Melissa Davey and Matilda Boseley explain how some people are falling through the cracks in this system
To learn more read this piece on how Ken Watson ended up in a coma after a nine-hour wait to go to hospital, plus how a doctor’s health advice for vulnerable people was ignored.
Continue reading...UK’s coronavirus death toll: how does it compare with Spain and Italy?
Daily increase in volume of fatalities now puts UK on par with rises seen in Europe’s worst-hit countries
A total of 7,097 deaths have been recorded in hospitals across the UK to date. Although this is lower than the death tolls in Italy, the US, Spain and France, the daily increase in the volume of fatalities now puts the UK on a par with rises seen in Italy and Spain.
Continue reading...Coronavirus: NHS staff form guard of honour for patient leaving hospital – video
A 61-year-old patient has received a guard of honour from the staff at the Leicester Royal Infirmary after recovering from Covid-19.
Hylton Murray-Philipson spent two weeks in the hospital’s intensive care ward after suffering nine days of dry cough and fever
Continue reading...The medical tests Boris Johnson may be undergoing in hospital
Doctors will assess how PM is responding to coronavirus, including breathing issues
Boris Johnson was admitted to hospital for tests on Sunday night with persistent coronavirus symptoms, 10 days after testing positive. Some estimates suggest that about 5-10% of people with Covid-19 require hospital treatment.
His admission to hospital indicates doctors want to check how his body is responding to the virus, which will probably involve carrying out the following tests:
Continue reading...‘Maybe worse than hoarding’: Trump implies hospital staff stealing masks – video
US president Donald Trump insinuates during a news conference that hospital staff in coronavirus hot spots such as New York city are stealing hundreds of thousands of surgical masks. He asked how the numbers of masks requested could shoot up from 10,000 to 300,000 overnight and said: ‘Are they going out the back door?’. Trump also lashed out at reporters who asked questions he did not like about his previous statements, telling, PBS NewsHour's Yamiche Alcindor: 'Don’t be threatening. Be nice'
Continue reading...Worker posts video from ExCeL centre being converted into coronavirus hospital
The building work to turn London’s ExCel conference centre into an emergency hospital treating coronavirus patients 'within days' has begun.
As construction began on Wednesday morning, Alex Woodside, who has been working on the cabling, posted a chilling video on Facebook showing the cavernous 100,000 sq metre Docklands site, saying: 'If you are not taking this seriously, like I wasn't, I think we really need to start'
Continue reading...Coronavirus: doctors and nurses in Belfast post message urging public to stay at home – video
Healthcare workers on the frontline of the coronavirus outbreak in Northern Ireland have made an appeal to the public. In a video, doctors and nurses from the Belfast trust respiratory team urge people to stay at home in order to save lives
Continue reading...Doctors warn coronavirus could overwhelm NHS ‘within weeks’
Intensive care audit shows sharp rise in admissions to critical care as London hospitals struggle to cope
The numbers of coronavirus patients needing life-or-death care have been doubling every three days, a report by senior doctors has revealed. London is worst affected, but the rest of the UK will soon be hit with a similar surge, the document warns.
The audit of intensive care carried out since the epidemic began shows that patients needing the highest level of help soared from 50 on 9 March to almost 200 on 19 March – and doctors fear this spike could turn into a nationwide surge within a few weeks.
Continue reading...We can’t be squeamish about death. We need to confront our worst fears
Patients, their families and their doctors need to be open about the inevitable as the virus sweeps through our population
• Coronavirus – latest updates
• See all our coronavirus coverage
• Coronavirus – latest updates
• See all our coronavirus coverage
As the coronavirus spreads through the British population, there is one fact we can all agree on. Whether we like it or not, society’s greatest taboo – death and dying – has been thrust unequivocally centre stage.
How could it not, when government strategy is to allow the virus to infect huge swathes of the country in the hope of building sufficient “herd immunity” to protect from future harm? The virus has killed an estimated 3.4% of those it has infected, according to the World Health Organization, although this figure is expected to decline as the true number of people infected becomes apparent. Herd immunity, according to Downing Street’s chief scientific adviser, requires a minimum infection rate of 60% of the population. Thus we may face a potential early and unexpected death toll of hundreds of thousands of Britons.
Continue reading...Inside an ICU: how long can we stay calm in the face of the coronavirus crisis?
Now, more than ever, the NHS must prioritise care - not just for frail, elderly and vulnerable people but for staff too
- ‘Unlike anything seen in peacetime’: NHS prepares for surge in Covid-19 cases
- Coronavirus – latest updates
There’s a strange mood in the intensive care unit (ICU) where I work at the moment. It’s one of controlled planning, paperwork and people pulling together in ways that on a normal day perhaps wouldn’t happen.
ICUs are as prepared as they can be. Locally business as usual has made way for preparations for caring for high numbers of patients. We are finding every ventilator we may have and identifying every suitably qualified member of staff. We will work together to fill gaps as best we can.
Continue reading...‘I was hacked,’ says woman whose account claimed hospital boy photo was staged
Woman denies posting false information that photo of four-year-old was political stunt
A medical secretary has claimed her Facebook account was hacked after it was used to post false information claiming that a photograph of an ill boy on the floor at Leeds General Infirmary was staged for political purposes.
The woman denied posting the allegation that four-year-old Jack Willment-Barr’s mother placed him on the floor specifically to take the picture which became symbolic of the NHS’s troubles after it appeared on the front page of Monday’s Daily Mirror.
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