So the General Election is over. We know where we are for a few years. The new Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, says the NHS is “broken”. He has already arranged to start talks as a matter of urgency next week with the English Junior Doctors. Settling that dispute would be a good start.
Representing Ilford North, Mr Streeting should have a bit of an idea about the Essex and Northeast London health and welfare systems. He also said: “patients are being failed on a daily basis” in their millions. The Labour manifesto promises an extra 40,000 operations, scans and appointments per week in England, which is 2million per year; this will be done by introducing more weekend services, as well as using slack in the private sector. Hopefully we’ll hear soon when this will start.
At the SWF Hustings event held on 25 June one of the questions was: “How do you and your party intend in the first 12 months of the next Government to deliver at least a 10% improvement in the numbers of: care home places; less blocked hospital beds; better times for ambulance attendances; better times for treatments in A&E Departments; better communications by hospitals and GPs with patients and carers; and more GP service appointments, for the people of South Woodham Ferrers and the rest of the country?” Understanding the breadth of the whole broken health and welfare system is essential.
The recent Channel 4 Dispatches documentary aired on Monday 24 June showed the utterly unacceptable care that is a regular occurrence in some of our hospitals. That is part of our broken NHS that needs urgent repair.
Pre-election restrictions meant there were less government and public sector data and bulletins. We did our best to keep up to date with developments. The English Junior Doctors five day strike that ended at 0700 on Tuesday 2 July, last week’s heatwave, and the cyber-attack on pathology provider Synnovis put huge additional strain on the NHS.
Screenings of our film, ‘The Impact of Covid on Dying, Death & Bereavement’ finished in Chelmsford on 27 June. SWF’s was held on 14 June, graced by the presence of Town Mayor, Cllr Alan Shearring. There’s no doubt there remains a very painful legacy from Covid for those who were bereaved in such awful, unusual circumstances. Our film aims to help unlock that and identify ways of improving things for the next inevitable pandemic. Our film will be submitted to the Covid Public Inquiry and will be published for free use after the Election.
Latest data indicates Covid cases are increasing again; A&E attendances have been at the highest level since February and deaths were up to 139 in a recent week. The largest group of people hospitalised with Covid are those aged 85+. It is difficult to get a full picture about Covid as there’s little testing. Data isn’t collected about Covid infections at home and is taken only in limited circumstances in hospitals. Anecdotally we hear constantly of people with Covid. It’s nasty and recovery can take a long time. The legacy of long Covid remains worryingly large; the latest ONS data reported 1.5m cases in England and Scotland at the end of March 2024, where three quarters are affected with daily activities and 380,000 people are “ limited a lot”. The Spring Covid vaccination programme ended on 30 June. Flu and respiratory infections remain stable at low levels. We are now definitely in the ‘living with Covid’ period.
UKHSA says STIs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases) continue increasing. Adolescents, young adults and men having sex with men are at most risk of STIs. Nearly half of STIs occur in people ages 15-24. But others aren’t immune. The best way to avoid STIs is to use condoms “consistently and correctly” with new or casual sexual partners.
Dr Shreya Singhal, a keen backpacker and worker in infectious diseases, has shared her top tips for travellers at this holiday time. Her blog about safe travel minimising risks to health is at https://ukhsa.blog.gov.uk/2024/06/28/from-measles-to-malaria-how-to-keep-you-and-your-family-healthy-on-holiday/ .
Last fortnight we celebrated:
- World Sickle Cell Day. Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is a group of inherited health conditions affecting red blood cells. SCD is particularly common in people with an African or Caribbean family background.
- Learning Disability Week, with the theme – “Do you see me?” – challenges us to think about how we ensure people with learning disabilities are seen, heard and valued.
- Windrush Day – important to mark that the NHS has always not just welcomed talented and hard-working colleagues from around the world, but relied on them, and that is just as true today.
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