Interesting and useful background article in BMJ this week, from three well respected academics, on the complexity of the NHS and how it is affected by Covid. It’s worth a read, if only for the perspective.
Local Hospital Performance
NHS Tracker: How is the NHS in your area coping?
Find out how your local NHS hospitals are currently performing with this app from the BBC at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-59592551.
It doesn’t say, but one has to assume the information presented is taken from publicly available NHS performance data.
GPs are Invaluable to the NHS
There was a letter in the Times yesterday (25 November) from Prof. Sir Denis Pereira Gray, who is Patron of the Natonal Association from Patient Participation (NAPP; it the umbrella body for primary care patient groups). In it Sir Denis champions GPs aas an invaluable part of the NHS. However he points out the loss of GP continuity of care – something I’m sure we’ve all noticed – and the need to recover this if we are to improve overall healthcare outcomes.… more >>>
Long Covid Help
I’ve received the following from NW London NHS.
… more >>>
If you are experiencing any of the symptoms of Post Covid (Long Covid), such as low energy, breathlessness, brain fog or others, then please visit our Post Covid support page https://www.nwlondonccg.nhs.uk/coronavirus/post-covid. It has support, resources and information about Post Covid to help you manage your condition.
Immune Amnesia
This is rather interesting. And yes, you did read that correctly: your immune system can suffer from amnesia and forget everything it knows. It is commonly caused by measles – and is a very excellent reason to get your measles vaccination. Other virus can do this too, just not as efficiently as measles.… more >>>
HPV Vaccine Success
There’s a BBC report that the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is reducing the incidence of cervical cancer by around 87% amongst the the early cohorts of those vaccinated (who were inoculated around the age of 11-13 and are now in their 20s). However the results are less dramatic for the older teenagers who vaccinated as part of a catch-up campaign, probably because they were already sexually active and infected.… more >>>
Why Can’t I See My GP?
There’s a useful short video from the people at the Love Your GP site about why you can’t – well actually the fact that you can! – get an appointment with your GP. The video is also on YouTube …
Seeing Your GP
10% of Prescribed Drugs “Useless”
A review, ordered by the government in 2018 and published this week, concludes that overprescribing is a major problem.
The review found that one in 10 drugs dispensed by GPs and pharmacists are pointless and potentially harmful. Moreover around one in five hospital admissions in over-65s are caused by the adverse effects of medicines – the more medicines someone takes, the greater the risk of unwanted or harmful effects.… more >>>
Organ Donation Trial
The NHS is to run a large trial of an approach that could boost number of organs available for transplant, and the transplant success rate. If it works, potentially thousands of lives could be saved as the demand for transplants vastly exceeds the supply of useable organs.
The plan is to give organ donors a cheap statin after the donor is declared brainstem dead and the relatives have consented, but before their organs are removed.… more >>>