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
Scheme allowing doctors to join as medical support workers is welcomed but calls to ‘permit doctors to work as doctors’ persist
Hundreds of foreign-born doctors, including refugees, have signed up to become medical support workers as part of a new scheme aimed at helping the NHS tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
NHS England launched the initiative for international medical graduates and doctors after calls to fast track the accreditation of overseas medics.
Continue reading...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...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...The parents of a New Zealand nurse working in the NHS who cared for Boris Johnson while he was in hospital with coronavirus have said they are ‘exceptionally proud’ of their daughter. Jenny McGee’s parents, Mike and Caroline, said: ‘She has told us it doesn't matter what patient she's looking after, this is what she does and I just find it incredible.’
Exclusive: Britain did not take part in €1.5bn order for kit to protect against Covid-19 despite shortages in NHS
Britain missed three opportunities to be part of an EU scheme to bulk-buy masks, gowns and gloves and has been absent from key talks about future purchases, the Guardian can reveal, as pressure grows on ministers to protect NHS medics and care workers on the coronavirus frontline.
European doctors and nurses are preparing to receive the first of €1.5bn (£1.3bn) worth of personal protective equipment (PPE) within days or a maximum of two weeks through a joint procurement scheme involving 25 countries and eight companies, according to internal EU documents.
Continue reading...After a divisive period dominated by Brexit, the pandemic has brought about a newly fostered spirit of community engagement and everyday heroism
It was the middle of March and, like almost everyone else in the country, Annemarie Plas, from south London, was sitting at home under the new conditions of the coronavirus lockdown. It was then that she had an idea about organising a community clap for NHS workers after seeing something similar in her home country of the Netherlands. Now, every Thursday at 8pm, millions of people head out into the streets to clap and cheer for the people risking their lives on the frontline. She tells Anushka Asthana how one idea became a national outpouring.
The crisis is bringing people together in other ways too. Naveed Khan is using a customised vehicle to deliver food and supplies to vulnerable people across his home city of Bradford. Lucy Welling, an NHS nurse, had her bike stolen as Britain went into lockdown. But followers on social media rallied round and helped find the bike amid several offers of a new one. The episode inspired a new movement, #TourDeThanks, to offer up bikes to key workers. In Nunhead, south London, Claire Sheppard set up Nunhead Knocks to help out those living in isolation. In Sheffield, 23-year-old Sarah-Jane Clark is one of a number of colleagues who moved in to a care home to look after residents safely.
Continue reading...Official adviser says UK could end up with highest number of coronavirus fatalities in Europe
The government has been warned that Britain risks having the highest death toll from coronavirus in Europe as the total number of fatalities from the disease in UK hospitals rose above 10,000.
As Boris Johnson left hospital on Sunday, criticism of the government’s response to the pandemic was mounting from senior medics and politicians, particularly over its failure to get enough personal protective equipment (PPE) and testing to NHS and care home workers.
Prof Sir Jeremy Farrar, an adviser to the government and director of the Wellcome Trust, said the figures of almost 1,000 daily hospital deaths showed the UK was in a similar situation to other European countries that had been badly affected.
Continue reading...List of possible interventions included simulating impact of allowing majority to be infected
The inclusion of “targeted herd immunity” as a possible UK government response to the Covid-19 pandemic – in a list of possible interventions considered for analysis by a contractor – appears to contradict strong denials by the health secretary 10 days earlier that it was any part of government policy.
Matt Hancock gave that response on 14 March after two senior government officials had said publicly that achieving “herd immunity” was a key aim, prompting widespread alarm among medical experts that the British government was planning to allow the majority of the population to become infected.
Continue reading...Daily death toll shows situation is comparable with other badly hit countries, says Jeremy Farrar
The UK could end up with the worst coronavirus death rate in Europe, one of the government’s leading scientific advisers has said.
Prof Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust and a pandemics expert on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said the figures of almost 1,000 daily hospital deaths showed the UK was in a similar situation to other European countries that had been badly affected.
Continue reading...Royal College of Surgeons says lack of PPE when treating Covid-19 patients is a disgrace
Surgeons treating Covid-19 patients have a “terrifying” lack of personal protective equipment that is risking lives, the profession’s leaders warn today.
Almost a third (32.5%) of UK surgeons say they do not have access to enough masks, gowns and other clothing to keep them safe, a new survey reveals.
Continue reading...Albert Chambers, a 99-year-old second world war veteran, has been discharged from hospital after recovering from Covid-19. Chambers, who will be 100 in July, was wounded in the war and spent three years in a prison camp. He praised the treatment he had received from the NHS, saying: 'It couldn't have been better'.
Thousands of people across the country have taken to their streets, gardens and windows to pay tribute to NHS workers and carers for the third consecutive week
Continue reading...The first secretary of state has thanked NHS staff and others working on the UK’s response to the coronavirus crisis. ‘We will never forget their sacrifice,’ he said of those who had lost their lives
Continue reading...In just three months, the coronavirus has turned the world upside down. But how did it play out so quickly? We take a look back to where it all began – from its origins in south east Asia, to its acceleration across Europe and the US. As the infection rate increased and countries went into lockdown, people began to find imaginative and inspiring ways of coping with our new reality
Continue reading...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...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 NHS continues to grapple with the coronavirus outbreak after the number of cases in the UK exceeded 51,000 on Tuesday. ITV News filmed a unit at the Royal Bournemouth hospital treating critically ill Covid-19 patients. Linda New, a patient and a volunteer at the hospital who was discharged from the unit, said : 'I just wanted to get through it for my children'
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...Maternity rights groups report surge of interest in unassisted childbirth
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.
The 33-year-old from the Highlands, whose baby boy is due at the end of April, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after the birth of her first child and wants to avoid a hospital delivery at all costs. Now she has reached the decision to have a free birth, also known as unassisted childbirth.
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