Category Archives: NHS

Four key questions on a Covid certification scheme in England

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The government is reviewing the options on proof of vaccination or testing status

The idea of vaccine certificates has gained traction in England, as the government weighs their potential usefulness in reopening sectors of society against concerns about privacy and discrimination.

As ministers prepare to launch a review into whether to introduce the documents, here are the key questions to be answered.

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‘6.2cm-tall man’ offered priority Covid vaccine after NHS blunder

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Liam Thorp, whose real height is 6ft 2in, was recorded as having a BMI of 28,000

A 32-year-old man with no underlying health conditions was offered a Covid vaccine early because of a blunder at his GP surgery which recorded him as being 6.2cm tall, giving him an astonishing body mass index (BMI) of 28,000.

The Liverpool Echo’s political editor, Liam Thorp, said he was left “really confused” after he was offered the jab this week seemingly ahead of the government’s rollout plan, and shared the “frankly surreal” experience in a Twitter thread which quickly went viral.

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England’s poorest areas hit by Covid ‘perfect storm’ – leaked report

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Exclusive: government analysis reveals unmet financial needs of many people needing to self-isolate

A “perfect storm” of low wages, cramped housing and failures of the £22bn test-and-trace scheme has led to “stubbornly high” coronavirus rates in England’s most deprived communities, an unpublished government report has found.

A classified analysis by the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC), produced last month, concluded that “unmet financial needs” meant people in poorer areas were less likely to be able to self-isolate because they could not afford to lose income.

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‘I’ve accepted the risk’: volunteering to be exposed to Covid in new trials

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Healthy adult volunteers aged 18 to 30 will be exposed to virus in controlled environment

Human challenge trials for coronavirus are to begin in the UK, a world first in the global fight against Covid-19.

Healthy adult volunteers aged between 18 and 30 will be exposed to coronavirus in a controlled environment, to learn more about how their body reacts to the virus, how it is transmitted and how much of the virus is needed to cause infection.

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Captain Tom: online trolling would have ‘broken his heart’, says daughter – video

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Captain Sir Tom Moore’s daughter has said he would never have been able to understand the online 'hate' the family received.

In an interview with BBC Breakfast, Hannah Ingram-Moore said she could not tell her 100-year-old father about the abuse after his fundraising efforts for the NHS. Moore died at Bedford hospital on 2 February after testing positive for Covid-19

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Doctors warn of ‘tsunami’ of pandemic eating disorders

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Covid-19 isolation blamed as number of children with anorexia and bulimia in England soars amid fears for similar rise among adults

Psychiatrists have warned of a “tsunami” of eating disorder patients amid data showing soaring numbers of people experiencing anorexia and bulimia in England during the pandemic.

Dr Agnes Ayton, the chair of the Eating Disorder Faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said the number of people experiencing problems had risen sharply with conditions such as anorexia thriving in the isolation of lockdown.

She said: “We expect the tsunami [of patients] is still coming. We don’t think it has been and gone.”

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More deaths, worse care? Inquiry opens into NHS maternity ‘systemic racism’

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Childbirth rights group supports examination into disproportionate health outcomes

An urgent inquiry to investigate how alleged systemic racism in the NHS manifests itself in maternity care will be launched on Tuesday with support from the UK charity Birthrights.

The inquiry will apply a human- rights lens to examine how claimed racial injustice – from explicit racism to bias – is leading to poorer health outcomes in maternity care for ethnic minority groups.

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I’m an NHS consultant anaesthetist. I see the terror in my Covid patients’ eyes

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As a hospital consultant working in intensive care, the reality of coronavirus and patients’ fear is brought home to me every day

I’m not ready,” the patient implores me through her CPAP [continuous positive airway pressure] hood. She’s breathing at more than triple her normal rate and I’ve been asked to intubate her as she’s deteriorating, despite three days in intensive care. She is 42 years old.

There’s terror in her eyes. A tear runs down her cheek. She’s looking at the patient opposite who is in an induced coma, intubated and ventilated, and isn’t doing well.

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‘The air reeks of invisible danger’: an extract from Breathtaking: Inside the NHS in a Time of Pandemic

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In this extract from her new book Breathtaking, palliative care doctor Rachel Clarke reveals the pressure and pain of splitting her time between hospice patients and hospital Covid wards

In January 2020, novel coronaviruses are nowhere on my mind. Like everyone working in the NHS, I am steeled for a home-grown catastrophe. For no matter how many patients lie on trolleys in corridors, how many ambulances sit trapped on hospital forecourts, how many photos go viral of toddlers slumped on their parents’ coats, receiving oxygen on the floor of a beleaguered A&E, nothing ever truly changes. These days, the annual NHS “winter crisis” is both dreaded and reliable as clockwork.

The numbers are so large, and repeated so frequently, they have long been leached of their force: 17,000 hospital beds lost since 2010; only 2.5 beds per 1,000 people in the UK, compared with three times that number in Germany; unfilled vacancies for more than 10,000 doctors and 40,000 nurses.

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‘We’re being asked to do too much’: NHS workers on fighting the second wave

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Six healthcare workers share how they are coping after nearly a year on the UK’s Covid frontline

With the UK reaching record levels of coronavirus cases in January, pressure on those working in frontline health services has never been greater.

From paramedics to intensive care nurses, the Guardian speaks to six healthcare workers about how they’re coping during the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, and how it compares with the first.

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London buses turned into ambulances to ease Covid strain

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Exclusive: Adapted single-deckers with seats removed and oxygen onboard will transfer patients

NHS staff are preparing to transport patients using two London buses that have been converted into makeshift ambulances, in another sign of the strain Covid is putting on the capital’s health services.

Most of the seats on the single-decker buses have been removed so that each can carry four patients, in an attempt to relieve the intense pressure on hospitals and the London ambulance service.

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NHS in most precarious position in its history, says chief executive

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Hospitals and staff ‘under extreme pressure’, says Simon Stevens, as over-70s invited to get jabs from Monday

Dealing with the deadly second wave of Covid has left the NHS in the most precarious position in its 72-year history, chief executive Sir Simon Stevens has warned, as ministers said they were aiming to get all adults in the UK vaccinated by September.

The over-70s and clinically extremely vulnerable, who number more than 5.5 million nationwide, will be invited to receive the vaccine from Monday in areas where most of the first priority groups of care home residents and the over-80s have now had the jab.

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Covid patients admitted to England hospitals ‘every 30 seconds’, says NHS chief – video

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Speaking on BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, Sir Simon Stevens says the NHS has never been in a more precarious position. With 3.5m doses of the Covid vaccines being delivered by 16 January, Stevens said that meant the NHS was vaccinating four times faster than people were newly catching coronavirus

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Two-thirds of NHS trusts in England treated more Covid patients last week than at peak of first wave

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Exclusive: number of Covid patients could be twice that of April 2020 peak within weeks

Two-thirds of all NHS trusts across England were treating more coronavirus patients last week than they did at the peak of the first wave of the pandemic, a Guardian analysis reveals.

Figures show that in 18 trusts the number of people suffering from coronavirus outnumbered all other patients.

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GPs in England say inconsistent supply of Covid vaccine causing roll-out issues

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Short notice is making it difficult to book advance appointments, as PM admits regional disparities

Inconsistent vaccine supply is making it difficult for GPs in England to book patient appointments more than a few days in advance, experts have warned, as the prime minister admitted there were significant disparities in local immunisation rates.

Doctors, NHS specialists and MPs told the Guardian that batches of the Pfizer and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine frequently arrived with only a couple of days’ notice, requiring last-minute planning and creating uncertainty for patients.

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‘Cummings effect’: why are people bending lockdown rules?

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Analysis: experts say erosion of trust in government contributes to liberal interpretation of guidance

Photographs of crowded beaches, parks and queues at food stalls outside popular walking spots, all at a time when the UK is on highest alert under tough coronavirus restrictions.

Despite Matt Hancock describing these as examples of “flexing the rules”, and Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, warning that stopping to chat in the street is a potential threat, many continue to interpret the government’s strict “stay at home” message as liberally as they can.

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Tom Templeton: ‘I suspect doctors have realised how therapeutic it can be to write books’

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The former Observer writer and now GP talks about his new book, 34 Patients, and the challenges he has faced during the pandemic

How has life changed for you at the surgery during the pandemic?
The biggest change has been having to talk to patients on the phone rather than seeing them in person. We only see around three per day now in person.

Do you miss seeing people face to face?
Totally. It’s quite right that we do it the way we do but I love being with the patients and having that connection.

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ICU medics in London plead with public to follow Covid rules

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Morale plummets as NHS sees ‘grave consequences’ of relaxed rules over Christmas

Intensive care medics in London have made a fresh appeal to the public to comply fully with England’s coronavirus restrictions, as they struggle to deal with more patients than at any time over the last four winters.

Morale among ICU staff is tumbling and concerns have been expressed about a “mass exodus” as the second wave of Covid infections escalates rapidly in London and elsewhere in England. Some doctors and nurses have already quit.

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