These are the stories of the British coronavirus that you need to know today.
The hospital backlog shows “a steep mountain that NHS must climb”
The increase in COVID-19 cases during the winter had a serious impact on hospital services, including cancer and routine surgery. Latest NHS England figures Indicated.
The number of patients waiting to start treatment reached 4.6 million in January.
Over 300,000 NHS patients have been waiting for planned care for over a year.
In January, an urgent referral by the GP reduced the number of people in the UK seen by suspected cancer specialists by 11% compared to the same period last year.
“Today’s results show that COVID-19 continues to cast a long shadow on people living with cancer,” said Sarah Bainbridge, policy director for cancer support at McMillan.
The wait list has increased since early 2020, when all non-urgent operations were postponed prior to the first wave of the pandemic.
Professor Stephen Powis, Medical Director of NHS England, Said The surge in hospitalizations in January contributed to the pressure on hospitals. “Admitting more than 100,000 COVID patients in a hospital in a month inevitably had a knock-on effect on some non-urgent care,” he said.
“But thanks to the efforts of NHS staff and the innovations in treatment and care developed during the pandemic process, the hospital treated more than a million people in other conditions in January. They treated them in other conditions last April. As many as I did.
“This is a testament to the skills, dedication, devotion of nurses, doctors, therapists and countless other staff members shown during the most difficult times in NHS history.”
NHS providers have described the latest numbers as “starks.”
“Today’s data reveals an incredibly steep mountain that the NHS must climb when trying to clear a substantial unprocessed portion of care accumulated during a pandemic,” the organization said. Deputy Chief Executive Officer Saffron Cordery commented.
She said next year’s NHS budget details could allow trust leaders to plan front-line services and address untreated treatment in less than a month before the end of the fiscal year. Said I haven’t heard yet.
Dr. Jennifer Dixon, Chief Executive Officer of the Health Foundation, said: “Government and NHS leaders need to clarify to the public how to address the unprocessed portion of unmet needs and achieve their ambitions to modernize care. Shown in the plan.
“This will require a large investment in the next spending review, especially if you want to see improvements in the waiting list and elimination of staff shortages that are hindering progress.”
NHS staff “under strong pressure”
The British Medical Association (BMA) is up to date NHS staff survey It showed the intense pressure exerted on health care workers during the pandemic and the serious impact it had on their health and well-being.
We found that 44% of staff reported feeling sick as a result of work-related stress over the last 12 months, starting at 40.3% in 2019.
BMA said it echoed itself February survey This suggests that half of the respondents reported work-related mental states and nearly 60% said they were more tired and tired than usual.
Dr. Rob Harwood, Chairman of the BMA Consultants Committee, said: We are planning to leave the NHS altogether. “
Meanwhile, studies suggest that mental health disorders were experienced by nearly 58% of UK front-line healthcare and social welfare workers during the initial blockade of COVID-19.
Researchers at University College London (UCL) and the University of Haifa in Israel have discovered that:
Importantly, in this study, it was not only doctors and nurses who experienced significant clinical distress, but the entire medical and social care sector, including ambulance workers, hospital porters, and pharmacists. It turned out to be all staff.
the study, Published in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology Participants were 1194 participants who completed the online survey between May 27 and July 23, 2020.
The investigation said that SARS-CoV-2 was mentally concerned about infecting others, concerns about access to personal protective equipment, and the inability to talk to managers about how they were dealing with it. It has been identified as a specific factor affecting health.
Dr. Joe Billings, who co-authored the report, said the findings were: “Staff relocated to a new frontline role are at particular risk of being traumatized and may require additional support during the relocation. I also emphasize that there is. “
The survey was conducted by COVID Trauma Response Working GroupFormed by UCL psychiatrists and psychologists, sought immediate additional mental health support for health care workers and social welfare workers.
Lead author Dr Talya Greene (UCL Psychiatry and University of Haifa) said: It is provided and accessible in all different roles and settings. “
Call for a review of Pfizer dosing intervals for cancer patients
Preprint studies suggest that delaying a second dose of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine may result in little protection against SARS-CoV-2 in more than half of cancer patients.
Researchers from King’s College London (KCL) and Francis Crick Institute Antigen-antibody responses 3 weeks after the first dose were only 39% for solid tumors and 13% for hematological cancers, compared with 97% for cancer-free patients.
The study, which will soon be released on the preprint server medRxiv, included 151 cancer patients and 54 healthy controls. Of these, 47 received 30 μg of the BNT162b2 vaccine, which was given intramuscularly at 21-day intervals, twice. However, participants who did not receive a second shot by December 29 after the change in guidelines received only one dose during the study period using a follow-up booster planned 12 weeks later. ..
Co-authors Dr. Sheeba Irshad and Professor Adrian Hayday called on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization to urgently consider the UK policy on Pfizer / BioNTech dosing intervals for cancer and other immunosuppressed patients.
“It has been shown that after the first dose, most patients with solid tumors and hematological malignancies remained immunologically unprotected for at least 5 weeks after the first injection, but this inadequate single dose. Efficacy can be remedied with an early booster on day 21, “Dr. Irshad said.
Lawrence Young, a professor of molecular oncology at Warwick Medical College, told the Science Media Center: Rheumatoid arthritis) needs to be followed quickly for the second vaccination. “
“No signs” Oxford vaccine causes blood clots: EMA
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said a preliminary study found no evidence to link the AstraZeneca / Oxford COVID-19 vaccine to the illnesses of two people who received the vaccine in Austria.
Austrian authorities suspended the use of vaccine batch number ABV5300 as a precautionary measure after the patient was diagnosed with multiple thrombosis and died 10 days after vaccination.Another individual Pulmonary embolism It is currently recovering after vaccination.
The EMA said the batch was delivered to 17 EU countries and consisted of 1 million vaccinations.
Investigations are ongoing, but “currently there are no signs that vaccination has caused these conditions and they are not listed as side effects of this vaccine,” he said.
According to the information available so far, the number of thromboembolic events in vaccinated people was less than that seen in the general population.
Today, Denmark also said it has stopped using vaccines from batches.
Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) “It has not been confirmed that reports of thrombosis were caused by the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine,” he said...
“We are scrutinizing this issue,” said Dr. Phil Bryan, MHRA vaccine safety officer, but “people need to get the COVID-19 vaccine, even when requested.” Stated.
Stephen Evans, a professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Economics and Tropical Medicine, described the Danish move as “a very cautious approach based on some isolated reports in Europe.” ..
Daily data
To Today’s daily data An additional 6753 UK positive tests were reported, killing 181 people. The total number of deaths within 28 days of a positive test is currently 125,168. 143,259 people died when COVID-19 was listed on the death certificate.
Another 532 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized. Currently, the total is 8977 and 1237 ventilator beds are in use.
As of yesterday, 23,053,716 people were receiving the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 1,351,515 people were receiving the second dose.
European approval of Jansen vaccine
EMA is Conditional marketing approval for Janssen’s COVID-19 vaccine For people over 18 years old.
This is the fourth EU-approved vaccine, the COVID vaccine.
This decision followed the results of a study showing that the one-shot vaccine reduced symptomatological COVID-19 cases by 67% after 2 weeks compared to patients receiving placebo.
The UK has secured 30 million doses scheduled for delivery later this year, subject to regulatory approval.
More Cases of P.1 Variants of Concern
In the United Kingdom, four more cases of SARS-CoV-2 “variants of concern” P.1 or VOC-202101/02 have been identified.
Three of the cases occurred in South Gloucestershire and one in Bradford, West Yorkshire. UK Public Health Service said..
All cases in South Gloucestershire were intimate contact or household contact with two P.1 cases present in the area.
Bradford individuals tested positive for COVID-19 in late February after returning from Brazil via Paris on February 14.
In the latest case, the total number of P.1 variant cases in the United Kingdom was 10, seven of which occurred in the United Kingdom and three in Scotland.
Wales Funds Obesity and Diabetes Strategy
Welsh government Promised to invest £ 65m to fight obesity and diabetes It states that it helps to help adults and children in Wales who can be seriously affected by the pandemic.
The funds outlined in the Welsh Government Budget were announced prior to next week’s announcement of the 2021-22 Healthy Weights: Healthy Wales Strategy, which was updated to reflect the impact of COVID-19.
“It doesn’t matter who the coronavirus targets, but people in poor health are much more vulnerable to the terrible virus,” said Ern Morgan, Minister of Mental Health Wellbeing.
See more global coronavirus updates in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center.
