Category Archives: NHS

Covid ‘testing inequality’ to widen divide between UK rich and poor

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Campaigners want affordable kits for all but health experts doubt efficacy of a mass exercise

A new divide is opening up between the “haves” and the “have nots” – this time over Covid-19 testing. While private schools and big businesses have introduced testing for their pupils and employees, allowing them to return to school and work, state schools and small businesses will be left to rely on the state. Campaigners warn that “testing inequality” could fuel greater financial inequality.

Financial giants, such as Credit Suisse, have introduced antibody testing for their employees, while the Premier League restarted its season last week, thanks to rapid antigen testing of players and backroom staff. Ocado bought 100,000 testing kits for its staff when lockdown began and some private schools intend to use testing as part of their plan to get all children back into classrooms at the start of the next academic year.

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Piloted in May, ditched in June: the failure of England’s Covid-19 app

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How the government came to scrap its contact-tracing app in favour of Apple and Google’s

Designed to be a key component of the test, track and trace programme to forge a way out of lockdown, the NHS Covid-19 app has been beset by problems from day one – despite repeated claims to the contrary.

After a trial on the Isle of Wight at the start of May, the contact-tracing app was meant to be rolled out to the rest of England by the middle of the month. That soon slipped to some time in June. Then on Wednesday it emerged that we would have to wait until the winter. Now – after much behind-the-scenes scrambling, and head-scratching in Westminster – officials have decided to ditch the app entirely in its current form.

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Prime minister told to dump rhetoric and plan for new Covid wave

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Medical chiefs call for a public health campaign as faith in government strategy slumps

Senior figures from across the NHS have issued an urgent plea for a comprehensive plan to tackle a second wave of coronavirus infections, as Boris Johnson continues to lose public confidence in his handling of the pandemic.

Amid persistent fears among scientists that the virus remains too prevalent to ease the lockdown further, the prime minister has been urged to ditch “cheap political rhetoric” that risks eroding the public’s adherence to lockdown measures in the months ahead.

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UK hospitals to trial five new drugs in search for coronavirus treatment

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Exclusive: thirty hospitals looking to sign up hundreds of patients to take part in studies

Five new drugs are to be trialled in 30 hospitals across the country in the race to find a treatment for Covid-19, it has emerged.

Just days after global trials of hydroxychloroquine, the drug promoted by Donald Trump as a cure, were halted, British scientists are looking to sign up hundreds of patients for trials of medicines they hope will prevent people becoming ill enough to need intensive care or ventilators.

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Covid-19 rehabilitation: journey from waking up to walking again – video

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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

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The ‘super-driven’ ex-TalkTalk chief behind England’s track-and-trace scheme

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With UK’s route out of lockdown dependent on success, Dido Harding faces a huge challenge

The ex-TalkTalk chief executive Dido Harding is facing one of the biggest moments in her eventful career, as she leads the government’s new track-and-trace programme upon which the country’s path out of lockdown depends.

Baroness Harding, 52, the chair of NHS Improvement, was brought in to shoulder the responsibility of this significant new strategy, personally risking the fallout if it does not go to plan.

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UK coronavirus live: Scotland to reopen schools in August as Sturgeon lays out lockdown easing

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Scottish first minister explains measures in phase one of loosening of restrictions; former Tory party chair calls NHS migrant surcharge ‘monstrous’

The Conservative backbenchers Henry Smith has outraged opposition parliamentarians by saying that the objection to MPs returning to the House of Commons after next week’s recess (when the current, largely-virtual proceedings will end) has come from the “lazy left” and from “workshy” Labour and nationalist politicians.

Not that I should be surprised by the lazy left but interesting how work-shy socialist and nationalist MPs tried to keep the remote Parliament going beyond 2 June.

Henry this is an appalling thing to say, would you like to compare cases dealt with in this crisis? Hours helping with food, PPE, testing? Number of questions put down to ministers? Number of bill amendments written? Also calling people working at home workshy is quite something https://t.co/RROVCxbG7O

The government’s own public health advice has said that those who can work from home should and parliament has developed a system using technology to ensure the scrutiny of government whilst allowing people to work remotely.

Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, told the London assembly this morning that he is considering banning passengers from buses and tube trains in the capital if they are not wearing a face covering. He said that he was hoping to persuade the UK government, which is currently just advising people to wear face coverings on public transport, to toughen its stance. He told the assembly:

We don’t want confusion. When there is a crisis, what’s important is to have message clarity.

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Court rules bar set too high for NHS surcharge and visa fee waivers

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Tribunal says if migrants can prove they cannot pay fees then they should not have to do so

A court ruling has given hope to thousands of migrants, including health and care workers, that they will no longer have to pay visa and NHS surcharge fees if they cannot afford them.

An immigration court found that the Home Office was applying too harsh a test on whether people should be forced to pay.

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Drivers tell of chaos at UK’s privately run PPE stockpile

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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.

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How Covid-19 contact tracing can help beat the pandemic

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If the UK government wants to start easing the country's lockdown restrictions, it needs to get contact tracing right. But what does that mean? What would successful contact tracing even look like? Josh Toussaint-Strauss tries to find out with a little help from Christophe Fraser, an Oxford professor and infectious disease epidemiologist, and Alex Hern, the Guardian's UK technology editor


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‘Mixed messages’: UK government’s strategy fuels fears of rule-breaking

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Critics of No 10 warn U-turns undermining efforts to keep public safe from coronavirus

First people were meant to stay at home to save lives, and then government sources raised the prospect of picnics with pals and sunbathing in the park just before a sunny bank holiday weekend.

Boris Johnson told the nation that scientists thought face masks might help stop the spread of the disease, but no change was made to the government advice that they were not needed outside medical and care settings.

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All 400,000 gowns flown from Turkey for NHS fail UK standards

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Health department understood to be returning shipment of PPE and seeking refund

Last month, amid dire warnings of shortages of personal protective equipment for health workers, ministers publicised the imminent arrival from Turkey of a fleet of RAF cargo planes bringing in a “very significant” shipment of PPE for the NHS.

Related: Picnics and sunbathing on cards as PM expected to allow more time outside

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Is 100,000 tests a day an effective strategy against coronavirus?

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UK government has been accused of inflating tally to hit goal for Covid-19 testing

The government has been accused of counting some tests prematurely, reportedly expanding its daily count to include tests that have been sent out in the post, rather than those actually carried out in labs. While it denies the charge, regardless of whether the 100,000 target has been met, countries that have taken a “test, trace, isolate” approach are running a far higher proportion of tests to positive cases than the UK. Germany, which is down to fewer than 1,000 daily positive cases, is performing nearly 1m tests per week. South Korea is doing 15,000 tests per day, but has had no more than 100 daily cases since the beginning of April. So, for a robust “test, trace, isolate” regime in the UK, the number of tests would need to be vastly increased or we would need to wait for the number of cases in the community to fall significantly.

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Why BAME people may be more at risk from coronavirus – video explainer

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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.

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Revealed: NHS procurement official privately selling PPE amid Covid-19 outbreak

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NHS launches inquiry after Guardian investigation exposes senior official trading protective gear amid pandemic

A head of procurement for the NHS has set up a business to profit from the private sale of huge quantities of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, an undercover investigation by the Guardian can reveal.

David Singleton, 42, a senior NHS official in London who has been working at the capital’s Covid-19 Nightingale hospital, launched the business two weeks ago to trade in visors, masks and gowns.

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Boris Johnson joins UK clap for NHS, key workers and Capt Tom Moore – video

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The PM stepped out of No 10 at 8pm to show his support for the NHS. He asked the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to wish Capt Tom Moore, the veteran who has raised £30m for NHS charities, a happy birthday as the newly appointed honorary colonel marked his 100th birthday on Thursday 30 April

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NHS staff coronavirus inquests told not to look at PPE shortages

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Exclusive: guidance to avoid examining systemic failures is ‘very worrying’, says Labour

Inquests into coronavirus deaths among NHS workers should avoid examining systemic failures in provision of personal protective equipment (PPE), coroners have been told, in a move described by Labour as “very worrying”.

The chief coroner for England and Wales, Mark Lucraft QC, has issued guidance that “an inquest would not be a satisfactory means of deciding whether adequate general policies and arrangements were in place for provision of PPE to healthcare workers”.

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Where is the kit to protect NHS workers? – podcast

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As medics and carers report widespread shortages of protective equipment, the government is facing pressure to explain why it appears the UK went into a pandemic under-resourced. Daniel Boffey and Rob Davies unpick the strategy and its failures

With reports of medics using bin bags in place of personal protective equipment (PPE), the government is under growing pressure to explain its preparedness for a pandemic and its efforts since the crisis struck to protect frontline workers.

The Guardian’s Brussels bureau chief, Daniel Boffey, describes how the government declined to take part in a joint EU procurement scheme at the same time it was failing to secure enough equipment from other sources. Meanwhile Rob Davies has been investigating how British firms such as Burberry have switched from fashion to the production of PPE. And the government’s attempts to dramatically increase the stockpile of ventilators as manufacturers take up the challenge to produce established and new designs.

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NHS warns of rise in children with new illness that may be linked to coronavirus

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Doctors alerted to possibly fatal syndrome, which gives the small number of sufferers stomach pain and inflamed heart

Children are falling ill with a new and potentially fatal combination of symptoms apparently linked to Covid-19, including a sore stomach and heart problems.

The children affected appear to have been struck by a form of toxic shock syndrome. Some have been left so seriously unwell that they have had to be treated in intensive care. At least one has undergone extra corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) treatment, which is used when someone’s life is at risk because they can no longer breathe for themselves.

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