Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from May, 2020

Blundering Boris has cost lives

The UK government incompetency has cost lives.   So many voters invested their hopes in Prime Minister Boris Johnson.  That hope has been cruelly dashed.  It will take time for this to impact in opinion polls, although the first signs of shifting public opinion are there. The Leader of the Labour party, Keir Starmer, now offers a different style of leadership.  The contrast is stark.  The rambling, incoherent dishonesty of Boris Johnson, or the clear, inciteful, yet compassionate approach of Sir Keir.   The one evokes doubt and uncertainty; the other, confidence in an ability to deliver. Faithfully doing as they were advised, UK citizens have been suckered into a strategy to protect, not the NHS, but the Tory government. Thousands of lives have been lost in so doing.  That is the tragedy. So many voters put their trust in Mr Johnson as the Prime Minister to deliver Brexit.  However, it is now apparent, he had little else to offer.  Of course, any government might be put off its s

Do benefits of weight loss surgery persist?

When people regain weight after having weight loss surgery you might think that any benefits would be lost if they subsequently regain the weight. But this is not the case. Curiously many of the benefits persist, such as metabolic improvements and reduced risk of type 2 diabetes. How could this be so? Researchers have now found some of the answers. Altered gene expression in fat tissue may help explain why individuals who have regained weight after weight loss surgery still experience benefits such as metabolic improvements and a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes. The findings come from a study published in the Journal of Internal Medicine . The study included women who underwent weight-loss surgery, and gene analyses were conducted before and two and five years after surgery. Analyses were also conducted in women who did not undergo surgery. Most gene expression changes in fat tissue occurred during the first two years after surgery; however, a subset of genes encoding protei

Taking care of care homes?

The Leader of the Opposition, Keir Starmer, was right to question the Prime Minister on Care Home deaths. Our loved ones in care homes should have been kept safe.  A new report today finds that the number of people dying from COVID-19 in care homes is double the figure given by the government. The government's advice up to 13th March was that there were unlikely to be infections in care homes. This conclusion could not have been based on scientific advice.  What logic were they applying? There is no reasoning in science why a virus would behave differently because it is in a care home! A virus has no idea it is in a care home! Did they think older people were immune if they were in care homes? The government was slow to understand the problem we faced, slow to act, and still refuses to publish the advice it receives. The consequence in our care homes has been catastrophic. The government should come out of its self-congratulatory mode and start listening. The jingoistic

Testing key to easing lockdown

Test, track and treat must be an essential ingredient coming out of COVID-19 lockdown.  This was acknowledged by the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, in his statement to the House of Commons today spelling out a little more detail of the strategy moving forward.  With more testing, it will be possible to predict at a more localised level in the community where infections will spread and target both community testing and more social interventions on high-risk areas in the future.  This might then prevents further national lockdown in response to any rebound of the virus.  The Prime Minister rightly refers to the R-value in informing strategy. It represents the rate of infection - or how many people can be infected by another.  At the outset, this was above 3, and anything above one means a dramatic increase in infections and deaths.  The Prime Minister also, on that basis, is right that there might be a need for differences in approach in different regions of the countr

Strategy? What strategy?

Following the PMs address this Sunday.  I have found no need to alter my earlier assumption that "the government strategy is to not have a strategy." I have come to the conclusion that the government doesn't have a strategy for easing lockdown and we, the public, are going to make it up as we go along. So, I hope you all have the appropriate skills to consider the risks. Why did the Prime Minister not make a statement earlier? He has added only confusion, where once we had clarity.  They are attempting to come out of lockdown by stealth, without testing, so we have no idea where the virus is. We have, instead, a vague ambition to increase testing. Meanwhile we will all be at risk if people are going out more and going back to work. The message was that we should stay at home and socially distance to 'save the NHS'. The truth of that is that it wasn't about saving lives, which is why initially the figures we were given didn't include deaths in care homes

Half of UK doctors have to source own PPE

In a major survey of frontline NHS doctors since the Coronavirus crisis began, over 16,000 UK doctors1 have responded to a BMA survey, answering questions on PPE provision, their well-being and drug shortages. The survey shows that overall, nearly half the doctors say they had to source their own Personal Protective Equipment, PPE,  for personal or departmental use, or they have relied upon donations. Breaking it down by profession, the majority, at 55%, are GPs with 38% being hospital doctors. Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA Council Chair said: “In what is the biggest survey of frontline NHS staff during this crisis, thousands of doctors have told the BMA that they have had to personally buy PPE for themselves or their department or rely on donations. 55% of GPs told us they sourced their own PPE or relied on donations and 38% of hospital doctors." While it shows how resourceful doctors have been and how much support there has been from the general public in providing