Care | Common News Update

Jun112020 by adminNo Comments

Coronavirus: Major disruption to cancer care revealed

Cancer care in England has faced major disruption during the pandemic with big drops in numbers being seen following urgent referrals by GPs, figures show.The number of people being assessed by a cancer doctor after referral fell to 79,500 in April - a drop of 60% compared to the same month last year.Meanwhile, patients starting treatment dropped to 10,800 - 20% below the numbers seen in April 2019.The NHS said it had tried to protect services.NHS England said a number of innovative approaches were being introduced to keep cancer care running.This has included delivering more chemotherapy in the community and people's homes as well as creating "Covid-free" wings in hospital to protect patients.NHS England chief executive Sir Simo...

Jun12020 by adminNo Comments

Coronavirus: ‘More than two million’ waiting for cancer care in UK

Health

About 2.4 million people in the UK are waiting for cancer screening, treatment or tests, as a result of disruption to the NHS during the past 10 weeks, according to Cancer Research UK.It estimates 2.1 million have missed out on screening, while 290,000 people with suspected symptoms have not been referred for hospital tests.More than 23,000 cancers could have gone undiagnosed during lockdown.Cancer services are starting to reopen across the UK.Cancer Research UK's figures are based on data for England and estimated for the whole of the UK.Treatment cancelledDuring lockdown, the health service focused on the care and treatment of patients with Covid-19, while other services, such as cancer care, were scaled back.People were still ...

May212020 by adminNo Comments

Primary care doctor visits down 60% since start of COVID-19 pandemic, analysis finds

Health

May 20 (UPI) -- Visits to primary care doctors declined by as much as 60 percent as the COVID-19 outbreak took hold in the United States in early April, an analysis released Wednesday has found. The impact on health, even as practices begin to reopen for non-coronavirus patients, has been significant, experts say. In research conducted by The Commonwealth Fund, a non-profit focused on healthcare access and affordability, researchers found that although patients starting to see primary care doctors again in late April, overall visits are down by roughly one-third from normal levels since the start of the year. A separate analysis published this week by the New England Journal of Medicine found the number of people hospitalized after having a heart attack in northern California dropped by ...

May192020 by adminNo Comments

Coronavirus: Nearly 10,000 deaths in care homes

Health

Nearly 10,000 people have died from coronavirus in care homes in England and Wales, figures suggest.But for the second week running the Office for National Statistics review of death certificates showed the number of new deaths being seen has fallen.In the week ending 8 May there were 1,666 deaths linked to coronavirus in care homes - down from just over 2,400 the week before.Meanwhile, the overall number of deaths across society has fallen too.There were 12,600 deaths during the week - nearly a third of which were linked to coronavirus.This is down from a weekly peak of 22,000 at the height of the pandemic - although it is still above what would be expected at this time of the year.Total deaths is seen as the best measure of the impact of the lockdown as...

Apr282020 by adminNo Comments

Coronavirus: Care home deaths up as hospital cases fall

Health

A third of all coronavirus deaths in England and Wales are now happening in care homes, figures show.Office for National Statistics data showed there were 2,000 coronavirus care home deaths in the week ending 17 April - double the previous week.Projections for the following week - up to last Friday - suggested the numbers have since continued to rise.It comes as coronavirus hospital deaths have started falling after peaking on 8 April.How quickly are care home deaths rising?Information about care home deaths are not included in the daily updates provided by government.Those figures cover only deaths in hospital.But the ONS has been able to track community deaths too by looking at death certificates.This means the data lags behind the hospital figures. ...