Displaying items by tag: Health

Data released on 8 June showed that A&Es experienced the busiest May on record, putting emergency care staff under significant pressure. Ambulance crews attended 624,092 call-outs, the highest number in a year. Alongside this, the figures show another record-breaking twelve months of cancer treatment and referrals, with more people than ever before getting checked and starting treatment. Tens of thousands of patients are set to receive a diagnosis and treatment for skin cancer faster, with accelerated NHS rollout of ‘teledermatology’, which involves taking high-spec images of spots, moles or lesions on people’s skin. NHS’s national medical director said, ‘As hospitals dealt with the most disruptive industrial action in history, average waits on waiting lists dropped to under 14 weeks - the lowest since before winter.’ In April 51,700 calls were answered daily by NHS 111.

Lucy suffers daily with chronic pain, vertigo, fatigue and brain fog. Before Covid she cycled daily. But three years after Covid she is on a hospital exercise bike wearing a mask to test respiratory and lung function, struggling to pedal. The Institute for Health Research said there is no treatment or drug to cure Long Covid. But there are clinics helping people to live with their symptoms. We know how to manage the many long-term debilitating conditions. There is a theory that some long Covid is an auto-immune condition, with the body attacking itself. 14-year-old Hayden caught Covid in December 2020, recovered after two weeks, then worsened until becoming bedridden. Hayden said, ‘Long Covid must be recognised more as a physical illness. When I was in hospital, doctors either couldn't diagnose it as Long Covid, or said it was all in my head and to stop making it up.’

A spring booster vaccine against Covid-19 is to be available in April to everyone over 75, care-home residents and people aged five and over who are extremely vulnerable, to protect them this summer. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation said hospital admissions for Covid-19 showed the risk of being seriously ill was noticeably higher in people over 75. It is advised that a booster jab be given six months after someone's previous dose. Four different vaccines, made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Sanofi/GSK and Novavax could be used. The head of immunisation at the UK Health Security Agency said Covid-19 was still circulating widely with recent increases in the numbers of elderly being admitted to hospitals. It is important that those at the highest risk of severe illness do not become complacent, and we encourage everyone who is eligible to come forward once the booster programme starts. Different versions of the Omicron variant have been spreading the most.

Concerns have been raised that the growing use of vapes among young people may lead to them smoking cigarettes. Kent County Council has urged businesses and residents to report to trading standards officers any illegal vapes and underage sales. Vaping products containing nicotine are required by law to carry a warning label on the box, and sales of vaping products to those under the age of 18 are banned. The Local Government Association wants new measures to regulate the display and marketing of vaping products in the same way as tobacco. England's chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said some products are intended to appeal to those who are underage, and that the UK should do ‘everything we can’ to reduce vaping among children. A grammar school headteacher said shops ‘entice’ young people with bright and colourful advertising.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has called for churchgoers and people of faith to become blood donors, especially those from ethnic minority backgrounds. Donors of Black heritage are urgently needed to help those with sickle cell, UK’s fastest-growing genetic blood disorder. Mr Khan, who donated blood himself at an event at City Hall, said he held a huge respect and admiration for church leaders and recognised their importance in encouraging people in their congregations to give blood and become organ donors. He said, ‘One of the things about our Christian neighbourhoods is the amount of good they do for their communities: the charity work, the food banks, homeless shelters and the work they did during the pandemic.’ Around 135,000 new donors are needed per year to meet demand; at least 40,000 new blood donors a year are needed in London over the next five years to keep being able to supply blood for lifesaving treatments.

Despite MPs having voted overwhelmingly to reject measures to legalise assisted dying in 2015, and in 2021, due to mass opposition from fellow Peers, activists are again pushing for the law to allow doctors to ‘help’ terminally ill patients end their lives. Ahead of the pending debate, MPs on the Health and Social Care Committee in Parliament are now conducting an inquiry, asking for the views of the general public into assisted dying/assisted suicide, to help shape their recommendations to Government, regardless of what, up to now, has been a clear and settled opposition to any such proposal. This debate will not go away until activists get what they want. Like water dripping relentlessly on a stone, after each defeat the campaigners return, with the same demands. The Bible says life is the gift of God for man made in His own image.

‘People were getting sick and dying a lot,’ says Sango. ‘One of my children died from diarrhoea. We could not afford medical care, we sold our mattresses, plates and clothes to pay for medicine and had nothing left to sell. ‘Our children were often ill and couldn’t go to school so we didn’t have time to farm and lost the respect of our community. Our despair turned to joy when Tearfund came and taught the importance of good toilets and washing our hands to prevent diseases, including diarrhoea. We built our first family toilet with a hand washing device. It has been three months since anyone has been ill! We have time and strength to farm and we can eat three meals a day, not just one. Our children are back at school, and after we have harvested our next crop we will buy some clothes.’

Over two million British people have long Covid, yet almost three years into the pandemic there is still a struggle for them to be seen by specialist clinics, hampered by a lack of resources and research. Long Covid has symptoms that continue for over 12 weeks and are not explained by alternative diagnosis. Over a third of people with long Covid acquired it during the first Omicron wave. They suffer weakness, tiredness, difficulty concentrating, shortness of breath, muscle aches, pain, fatigue, brain fog, muscle twitching, sleep problems, and more. The British Medical Association has asked the Government to increase funding for long Covid clinics to deal with the ever-increasing patient numbers. NHS England's 2022 strategy, set out in July, failed to announce any new funding.

Pressure on GPs is ‘dangerously close to a death spiral’ as doctors leave, says Dr Paul Evans. BMA's safe working guidance states GPs should have up to 25 patient encounters a day. But on Mondays a doctor could have 40, 50, sometimes even 60 direct patient contacts. The problem worsens as the pressure leads to more GPs leaving the profession. The NHS has recruited 4,000+ trainee GPs in 2022, hitting government targets. However, while training places have increased, quite a significant number who finish training leave the system because it is so hard to work in. Rishi Sunak said the NHS was a priority and ‘billions of pounds extra’ would be invested, adding, ‘I'm confident, because we are putting in the extra resources, we will be able to find a way to improve the services’.

Migrants at the Manston Airport detention centre are to be vaccinated against diphtheria after dozens of cases were confirmed. Diphtheria is contagious, infecting the nose, throat and sometimes the skin ,and can be fatal. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is working closely with the Home Office at the reception centre, where there are cases of diphtheria and other infections, including one unaccompanied child who had scabies. The UKHSA said accommodation settings should be considered ‘high-risk for infectious diseases with a high prevalence of toxigenic diphtheria infection’ and endorsed mass antibiotic prophylaxis and mass vaccination. Antibiotics and diphtheria vaccination are being offered to everyone at the centre and all who have moved on to hostels recently’. A national briefing was also sent to NHS staff to highlight ‘the importance of early diagnoses.