Health & Wellbeing

The latest data from The Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s Winter Flow Project 2021/22 show that since the beginning of October 2021 there have been 56,096 patients delayed by 12 hours or more from time of arrival in Emergency Departments.

In comparison, last year’s Winter Flow Project 2020/21 didn’t record over 50,000 12 hour stays from time of arrival in Emergency Departments until February Week 3. Data also show that in December 2021 Week 2, four-hour performance fell to 56.3%, the lowest ever recorded.

West Midlands Mayor Andy Street has issued a rallying cry to the region for people to come forward and receive their COVID-19 booster jab.

The Mayor’s plea comes after he visited the Saddlers Vaccination Centre in Walsall this morning to receive his booster jab, more than a month after recovering from the virus. The Saddlers Vaccination Centre is just one of a number of walk-in centres now open across the West Midlands, as the NHS offers every adult in the region a third ‘booster’ jab to protect against the ongoing threat of COVID-19.

Responding to emergency care performance data for November 2021 in England, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Dr Katherine Henderson said: “Every part of the patient journey through emergency care is broken. In a different time, this would be a scandal.” The data show:

Prime Minister Boris Johnson Booster has announced that jabs will be offered to everyone over 18 in England from this week, as he declared an "Omicron emergency".

In a TV statement, he said that "no one should be in any doubt, there is a tidal wave of Omicron coming". The target to vaccinate all adults by the end of January, he said, will be brought forward by a month – with some medical appointments may also be postponed to focus on boosters.

Providing expert opinion on issues relating to the Omicron variant, Professor Adam Cunningham, Professor of Functional Immunity at the University of Birmingham, said: “All the evidence points towards large numbers of people becoming infected with Omicron all across the globe.

“Because of this, there are additional concerns about Omicron that this is just the starting point for more variants to emerge, potentially maintaining its high levels of transmissibility but with maybe greater virulence.

The City of Wolverhampton Council is to recruit a 'roving' team of social workers to help further improve support for vulnerable children, young people and families. Members of Cabinet (Resources) Panel have approved the recruitment of a peripatetic team of nine social workers who will cover temporary vacancies across the council’s statutory social work teams.

This will reduce the council's reliance on agency workers and enable temporary posts to be filled in a timely manner.

Early signs suggest the Omicron Covid variant is more transmissible than the current Delta strain, No. 10 has said. But the prime minister's official spokesman added it was still too early to draw conclusions - and any impact caused by Omicron would also depend on whether it caused severe illness.

There are currently 437 confirmed cases of Omicron in the UK, figures show. Earlier, Wales' health minister said they were expecting a significant wave of Omicron that would peak in January.

A leading mental health and wellbeing charity has supported West Bromwich Albion Football Club to develop its Mental Health and Wellbeing strategy which was launched by the club earlier this month.

The Kaleidoscope Plus Group has worked with the club to devise its strategy, which aims to support and promote the welfare of its staff and volunteers and will provide Mental Health First Aid Training as well as ongoing advice and support.

There is community transmission of the Omicron coronavirus variant in multiple regions of England, Health Secretary Sajid Javid has confirmed. He told MPs that the variant was continuing to spread - both in the UK and around the world - and there were now cases here with no links to international travel.

There have been 336 confirmed cases of the highly-mutated variant across the UK, he said, a rise of 90 from Sunday. There are concerns about how Omicron could interact with current vaccines.

The Black Country-based charity (which runs nine leisure facilities for Sandwell Council across the borough) part converted two of its sites to approved vaccination centres at the start of the pandemic - Portway Lifestyle Centre in Oldbury and Tipton Sports Academy – and just between them they have delivered in excess of 160,000 of the *400,000+ jabs administered across Sandwell to date.

There are many common respiratory viruses seen in children, which most will have had by the time they turn two. However, with the reduction in transmission of viral infections last year, there is an increasing number of young children who have never been exposed to these common viruses.

This can lead to bronchiolitis, an infection of the lower airways that can make the airways inflamed and mucusy.

Staff at The Priory and Edgbaston Hospitals in Birmingham have been recognised for the vital work they did to deliver lifesaving treatment to cancer patients during the pandemic. The prestigious ‘Hospital Group’ award is presented to an organisation that has shown excellence in its delivery of care, in addition to innovation and transformation in challenging circumstances.  

Health Secretary Sajid Javid has a huge task ahead of him to deliver millions of booster jabs in the run-up to Christmas.

While speaking outside a vaccination hub at St Thomas' Hospital in south London, Javid realised his questioner had yet to get a third dose, despite now being eligible under the revised three-month gap.

Nearly two thirds of A&Es across the UK had ambulances waiting to transfer patients every day in the past week, according to a new survey from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine.

The latest RCEM survey covers the period 8 November to 14 November 2021 and was sent to Clinical Leads in Emergency Departments across the UK and received 70 responses.

Africa’s sharp increase in diabetes is clashing with the COVID-19 pandemic and poor access to vaccines. Africa’s death rates from COVID-19 infections are significantly higher in patients with diabetes, according to a preliminary analysis which the World Health Organization (WHO) presented in advance of the World Diabetes Day.

“COVID-19 is delivering a clear message: fighting the diabetes epidemic in Africa is in many ways as critical as the battle against the current pandemic,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.

At the Kingston Public Hospital, Rupert Dixon appeared to be on the mend. He was recovering from two hospitalizations and a surgery after taking the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine. But things took a turn for the worse in the days after - when Mr. Dixon died of a stroke.

His death certificate stated that thrombosis, after taking the Covid-19 vaccine, contributed to his death. Before the vaccine, 68-year-old Rupert Dixon said he’d never been ill.