Four
We focused the NHS system on four aims. None of these are equitable or in an excellent state for this winter.
Equitable longer healthy life expectancy.
Excellent quality, safety and outcomes.
Excellent access and experience.
Value for taxpayers’ money.
3,171
As of 16 October 2024, 3,171 COVID-19 cases were identified in hospital settings in week 41, compared to 3,086 cases in the previous week. However, surveillance still doesn’t want to—or know how to—report the number of people who caught the infection in the hospital.
2.3%
As of 16 October, influenza positivity increased to a weekly average positivity rate of 2.3% compared with 2% in the previous week.
10 seconds
The Independent reports that short ‘micro-walks’ could improve health. A study suggests that Walking for 10 to 30 seconds in stints could burn more calories than continuously walking the same distance. So now that winter is coming, walking to the fridge all day seems slightly better than going for a long walk in the rain and wind. TTE thinks this research should take a walk to the toilet and flush the chain.
Six
As winter approaches, there are only 16 days before the US election. It's a good job that the summary released last week of Vice President Kamala D Harris's current health status and medical history reports that she’s in excellent health. As TTE counts, she’s taking five medications and one supplement.
Allegra (Fexofenadine)
Atrovent (Ipratropium Bromide)
Pataday (Olopatadine) eye drops
Nasal spray
Allergen Immunotherapy
Vitamin D3 supplementation
93.1%
In September, 92,116 of the 98,932 (93.2%) available beds were occupied in acute trusts with a type 1 A&E department. Not much spare capacity as - you guessed what - is round the corner.
36.02
Ambulance data for September isn't looking that sharp. Response times for category two calls in England (that should have been responded to in 18 minutes) were an average of 36 minutes and 2 seconds. The 90th centile response was 1 hour and 16 minutes.
20,000
The Time reports that the NHS cancelled nearly 20,000 operations in three months. Professor Tim Briggs, NHS national director for clinical improvement and elective recovery, said: “Although the number of cancelled operations is lower than pre-pandemic, there is much more we can do to minimise disruption for patients, make systems more efficient, and bring down waiting lists as fast as possible.”
We agree with Tim: There’s much more the NHS can do as we approach winter - how about starting with 20,000 operations?
Nothing
As winter arrives, we could use excellent access to health services. Increasing hospital infections will exacerbate rising acute respiratory infections. Yet, nothing has been done to improve hospital capacity or reduce the effects of hospital-acquired infections on common respiratory agents.
This post was written by two old geezers who often take microwalks around the TTE offices.
Dear M Dowrick, thank you for your comment. If you take a look at our Antivirals series you will see that oseltamivir/Tamiflu shortens duration of influenza symptoms by a few hours compared to a real placebo. That’s it. But it is neurotoxic. This leads us to assume that if it is prescribed off label for SARS-CoV-2 (a very risky endeavour) the only rationale for such an action if that it makes you feel better for a few hours compared to an inert control. That is because its mechanism of action in vivo is probably on the brain, not the influenza virus as Roche and friends claim. So it probably acts like aspirin, it is not agent specific. Strangely though surprise surprise it has never been compared with aspirin in a head to head RCT.
Best wishes, Tom
Sooo... 97.7 percent of patients whose doctors thought they had "The Flu" were influenza negative?