[ad_1] BBCFive times Prof Kevin Fong broke down in tears in a nondescript hearing room in West London, while giving evidence to the Covid inquiry.The 53-year-old has the kind of CV that makes you pay attention: a consultant anaesthetist in London who also works for the air ambulance service and specialises in space medicine.In 2020, as Covid spread around the world, he was seconded to NHS England and sent out
[ad_1] Fergus WalshMedical editorBBCThere is nothing in life that is free of risk. That includes vaccines. But the evidence is compelling that the benefits of getting immunised with those vaccines recommended in the UK far outweigh the possibility of serious side effects.The level of benefit from Covid vaccines is well documented. And the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is credited with saving more lives in the first year of its use than any
[ad_1] BBCWe are now in the era of weight-loss drugs.Decisions on how these drugs will be used look likely to shape our future health and even what our society might look like.And, as researchers are finding, they are already toppling the belief that obesity is simply a moral failing of the weak-willed.Weight-loss drugs are already at the heart of the national debate. This week, the new Labour government suggested they
[ad_1] An urgent review is needed to make sure people in England can get weight loss jabs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro on the NHS, top experts warn. It comes a day after the prime minister said such injections could boost Britain's economy by getting obese unemployed people "back into work". More than 200 doctors and specialists have now written to the health secretary to say how stretched NHS obesity
[ad_1] Getty ImagesIntensive-care units came under severe strain during Covid, the inquiry has heard (stock photo)At least one NHS trust put in place a blanket "do-not-resuscitate" order for sick patients in the pandemic, the Covid inquiry has heard.It would mean individuals were considered ineligible for potentially lifesaving CPR, solely on the basis of age or disability, without being individually assessed.Former Resuscitation Council UK president Prof Jonathan Wyllie said he knew
[ad_1] Covid InquiryTamsin Mullen was giving evidence to the Covid inquiry about the impact on maternity servicesA mother of premature twins has told the Covid inquiry she did not feel like she was treated as a parent after giving birth in the early stages of the pandemic.Tamsin Mullen said she was kept in a side room for 27 hours after giving birth by caesarean section while her sons were taken
[ad_1] Jim ReedReporting fromCovid inquiryMark TilleyMark Tilley worked as an ambulance technician in south-east England through the first two waves of the pandemicAmbulance crews faced crucial delays trying to save dying patients in the pandemic because of the time it took to put on protective equipment, the Covid inquiry has been told.Ambulance technician Mark Tilley appeared close to tears when he described how the experience still "played on his mind"."I
[ad_1] Jim ReedHealth reporter, BBC NewsProf Kevin Fong said he undertook an informal visit to one of the "hardest hit" intensive care units in the countryTreating patients during the pandemic was like responding to a daily terror attack, the Covid inquiry has heard.Giving testimony, Professor Kevin Fong, spoke of staff he met during a hospital visit being in "total bits". The former national clinical adviser in emergency preparedness at NHS
[ad_1] Getty ImagesThe provision of PPE for healthcare workers is being explored in this part of the Covid inquiry (stock image)The chair of the Covid inquiry has refused an application from the UK Health Security Agency to keep the identities of two junior clinicians secret.Lawyers for UKHSA applied for an order preventing publication of their names, on the grounds they could be subject to abuse and harassment on social media
[ad_1] UKHSA's Prof Susan Hopkins questioned over face masks at Covid inquiry.There is only “weak evidence” that high-grade face masks better protected health workers than surgical ones in the pandemic, the Covid inquiry has been told.Prof Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said respirator masks – known as FFP3s – may have performed no better than thin surgical masks in real-life situations.She said there
