Health
British hospitals relax Covid rules to help tackle waiting lists | Coronavirus
Ministers have ordered significant mitigation of coronavirus infection control measures in UK hospitals to facilitate efforts to address the untreated portion.
The move follows a review led by the Chief Executive Officer of the United Kingdom. health Security agency Dr. Jenny Harries talked about whether the NHS could start removing some Covid rules and allow doctors to see more patients.
Strict guidelines designed to protect staff, patients and visitors from the coronavirus, which has been in force since the beginning of last year, also make it difficult to treat an increasing number of people who need selective care. increase.
A record 5.6 million people are waiting for treatment in the UK, according to the latest report. NHS data.
On Monday, Health Minister Sajid Javid accepted three important recommendations for selective care. Each will take effect immediately.
They include reducing social distances from 2 meters to 1 meter, eliminating the need to isolate patients prior to surgery, and adopting “standard” lavage procedures rather than “advanced” lavage procedures. increase.
The virus continues to infect tens of thousands of people in the UK every day, which can raise concerns among some medical professionals and scientists. Trisha Greenhalgh, a professor of primary health care at Oxford University, said on Twitter that relaxation of the rules could “make things worse.”
Dr. Simon Clark, an associate professor of cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, said the changes are “generally rational” and should be implemented where they can “improve access to medical care.” Stated. However, he warned that false-negative test results could mean that “some asymptomatically infected patients can be placed in the ward with vulnerable patients.”
Clark also said the new cleaning guidance was “diced smacks” and “may lead to infections with Covid-19 and other infections in our hospital.”