Care | Common News Update

Aug152020 by adminNo Comments

IG report: Defense Dept. is failing in mental health care of troops, families

Aug. 14 (UPI) -- The mental health care of U.S. military troops and their families is not being met by the military health system, a Defense Department Inspector General says. The 74-page report, released this week, found that "the DoD did not consistently meet outpatient mental health access to care standards for active duty service members and their families, in accordance with law and applicable DoD policies." Advertisement It noted that, in the December 2018 to June 2019 time period studied, "seven of 13 MTFs [military treatment facilities] or their supporting TRICARE network [civilian and veteran treatment facilities] did not meet the specialty mental health access to care standard." Over half of active duty members and their families, in need of mental health care, did not receive i...

Aug72020 by adminNo Comments

One-third of children hospitalized with COVID-19 require ICU care, CDC says

Health

Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Roughly one in three children hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United States has required treatment in the intensive care unit, according to figures released Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hospitalized adults infected with the new coronavirus are admitted to the ICU at essentially the same rate, the agency said. Advertisement However, adults are about 20 times more likely to need hospital care after getting infected than children, the CDC said. "Although the cumulative COVID-19-associated hospitalization rate among children is low compared with that among adults ... children can develop severe COVID-19 illness," agency researchers wrote. The findings are based on an analysis of data from the COVID-19-Associated Hospitalization Surveillance...

Aug22020 by adminNo Comments

Dame Barbara Windsor moved into care home as Alzheimer’s worsens

Entertainment

Former EastEnders star Dame Barbara Windsor has been placed in full-time residential care after her Alzheimer's worsened during lockdown.Scott Mitchell, her husband of 20 years, said he had acted on the advice of her neurologist but the decision had still been immensely painful. He said the 82-year-old actress left the couple's property in mid-July and moved to a care home in London.He told The Sun: "I feel I'm on an emotional rollercoaster. I walk around, trying to keep busy, then burst in to tears. It feels like a bereavement. Image: Dame Barbara pictured in 1964, during the early days of her acting career "It's always been my biggest fear that one day I would have to take her somewhere and she'd be thinking: 'Why would he do this t...

Jul182020 by adminNo Comments

Care homes and public told to immediately stop using brand of coronavirus test kit

Technology

The government has told care homes and the public to immediately stop using coronavirus testing kits produced by a healthcare firm after safety problems were discovered.The government said all labs must pause the use of COVID-19 test kits produced by Randox laboratories "with immediate effect until further notice". It said the tests, which were used as part of the NHS system, failed to meet safety standards.Health Secretary Matt Hancock said there had been a problem with the swabs but there was no suggestion that test results were affected.He told the Commons on Thursday: "We've identified some swabs that are not up to the usual high standard that we expect, and we'll be carrying out further testing of this batch as a precautionary measure. ...

Jun112020 by adminNo Comments

Coronavirus: Major disruption to cancer care revealed

Health

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...