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CORONAVIRUS
RCN Congress calls for campaign to support nurses with long Covid
The RCN annual Congress has voted for the college to campaign to tackle the ‘ unfair ’ and ‘ immoral ’ treatment of some nursing staff with long Covid who face a ‘ postcode lottery ’ for employer support .
At the event in Glasgow , Paul Jebb , who sits on the Nurses in Management and Leadership Forum , presented a resolution calling on the RCN Council to campaign for ‘ equitable ’ and ‘ effective ’ support for nurses with long Covid .
He told delegates : ‘ The RCN needs to be much more vocal about what is happening to our members with long Covid . If we want to maintain the talent and expertise of nurses , they need to be supported financially and in other ways .’
The resolution said : ‘ With long Covid Facebook groups full of alarming personal stories , it is clear the support provided by employers is often dependent on where a person lives . This is particularly unfair and even immoral because a high percentage of staff contracted Covid while at work and often because of inadequate personal protective equipment .’
The RCN is also calling for the UK Government to increase investment in long Covid research and care so patients are treated fairly across the UK , to prevent health inequalities being exacerbated . See analysis , page 10 .
COMMUNITY NURSING
A third of health visitors have been lost since 2015 , report reveals
There have been calls for the Government and local authorities to address health visitor shortages and improve services , after a report revealed a third of the workforce had been lost since 2015 .
The document , from the First 1001 Days Movement , a coalition of baby wellbeing groups and professionals , highlights that health visitor numbers have dropped by at least 30 % since 2015 when responsibility for the service transferred to local authorities – with further losses forecasted .
It calls on the UK Government to ‘ properly resource ’ local authorities so they can provide adequate health visitor services after ‘ consistent underinvestment ’ since 2015 .
Local authorities must also commission and fund health visitor services that meet the Healthy Child Programme – a national framework on caring for children up to the age of five – and the Government must hold them to account if they are not meeting those standards , the report adds .
The decline in staff numbers has in part been driven by a real-terms fall in the public health grant – a small part of which funds health visiting – from £ 3.99bn in 2015 / 16 to £ 3.3bn in 2022 / 23 , it says . See cover feature , page 6 .
CLINICAL
Even moderate alcohol consumption is a risk to heart health , study finds
Levels of alcohol consumption generally considered safe by some countries – including the UK – can be linked to worsening heart health , according to a study by St Vincent ’ s University Hospital in Dublin .
The NHS advises that regularly drinking more than 14 units of alcohol a week poses a risk to health , but the study authors suggest moderate levels of seven to 14 units can increase risk . It looked at the heart function of 744 adults aged over 40 across 5.4 years , who were
either at risk of heart problems or had pre-heart failure . Among the latter group , even moderate consumption of between seven and 14 units of alcohol a week was associated with a worsening level of risk to heart health .
Long-term heavy alcohol use has been linked with alcoholic cardiomyopathy but evidence from previous studies in Asian populations , where lower levels of alcohol consumption are more common , had suggested low levels may also be detrimental to heart health . The authors suggest their findings , which were presented at a European Society of Cardiology conference in May , contribute to the body of evidence supporting a more cautious approach to alcohol consumption . bit . ly / 39hTRgb
CLINICAL
Autistic people ‘ more susceptible to chronic health conditions ’
Autistic people are more likely to have chronic mental and physical health conditions , according to a large University of Cambridge study , but healthcare systems are failing to provide appropriate care for them .
Using an anonymous survey , a team from the Autism Research Centre ( ARC ) in Cambridge compared the mental and physical health , and healthcare experiences , of 1,285 individuals with autism with those of 1,354 non-autistic people , from across 79 countries , with ages ranging from 16 to 96 years .
The study , published in the journal Molecular Autism , found adults with autism were more likely to have chronic mental and physical health conditions than their non-autistic counterparts , and experience lower-quality healthcare .
These included : arthritis ; breathing concerns ; neurological conditions ; anorexia ; anxiety ; ADHD ; bipolar disorder ; depression ; insomnia ; OCD ; and panic disorders . bit . ly / 3Ny6Lpv
Diet may impact ADHD symptoms in children , study suggests A diet with more fruit and vegetables may help reduce inattention issues in children , according to researchers at Ohio State University .
They studied children aged six to 12 years and found those who consumed more fruit and vegetables showed less severe symptoms of ADHD . bit . ly / 3NZy7Vc
More personalised treatment ‘ could transform ’ type 2 diabetes care A study of 23 , 000 patients newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes patients showed considerable phenotypic heterogeneity . For example , patients at risk of cardiovascular illness are phenotypically different from those at risk of retinopathy . This points to the potential for more personalised treatment regimes , which could transform diabetes care . bit . ly / 3mpFcCO
WHAT ’ S YOUR VIEW ? To comment on any of these issues and to read today ’ s news in general practice and community nursing , visit nursinginpractice . co . uk .
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