Image by I continue to be disturbed about the way we are driving the COVID-19 testing machine. I have been critical previously over the increased attention to testing asymptomatic individuals. The UK Government recently announced what I have dubbed their “Cuddles for Christmas” approach of rapid testing in care homes in England to allow relatives to visit their incarcerated loved ones without the need for social distancing. On the face of it, this sounds a wonderful idea but my worry is the results of these tests are taken as absolutes and nothing could be further from … Read the rest
COVID, complexity and face-masks
Healthcare is a Complex Adaptive System, to quote Jeffrey Braithwaite. To be fair, I’d been aware of this for some considerable time, having first discussed the role of complexity science in healthcare associated infection is 2003. However, it was not until 2014 that we began to apply complexity science to our work, as discussed previously in this blog and in more detail in a BMJ blog. I could not think of a better video to offer a simple but relevant illustration of how a complex adaptive system works. If you have not viewed the video produced by the … Read the rest
Creating a new normal
Yesterday’s blog prompted a fascinating debate over Twitter, as a result of a discussion by Public Health England (PHE) over considerations to prolong the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE.) Colleagues highlighted a blog post by Mike Edmond. He discussed the option of abandoning the fluid repellent surgical mask as part of PPE and instead make use of a full face visor only. The PHE document included ways of increasing capacity for single use and reusable gowns and I suggested we might also abandon the use of gloves for what after all is a respiratory virus and hand hygiene is … Read the rest
Wales the wonderful
This is a blatant plug to encourage you to consider coming, living and working in Wales. I’ve been based in west Wales covering the counties of Carmarthen, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire since 1990. While I did spend a fascinating 10 years working in Cardiff and gaining a new set of skills, my home has always been just outside Carmarthen.
Today was one of my days when I work from our hospital in Aberystwyth and it was one of those gorgeous spring days where I can enjoy seeing the red kites overhead as I drive along the coast road between Aberaeron and … Read the rest
Gamekeeper turned Poacher
I had minor surgery today courtesy of the Day Care Unit in Prince Phillip Hospital. Thanks for asking, it was for a small umbilical hernia and all went well. However, the point of writing this is not to play the sympathy card but to take the opportunity to reflect on how I saw the unit work from a couple of perspectives: quality and infection, prevention and control because of course, professionally, these are two areas that engage a lot of my time.
It was interesting to be able to observe first hand our health systems in operation. Systems is key … Read the rest
Following in the footsteps of Bevan?
Today has been interesting in the journey towards reducing Healthcare Associated Infection across our patch of Wales. For those of you who come here regularly to read of progress, you will be aware that the Hywel Dda University Health Board have agreed a paradigm shift in the way we think and address healthcare associated infection. The microbiology and infection prevention team were nominated by the Hywel Dda Health Board as an exemplar in the work around Prudent Healthcare being led by the Bevan Commission.
We spent the day in Cardiff at the Millenium Stadium learning about the role of the … Read the rest
Who’s taking the urine?
Or who is responsible for sending urine samples to the laboratory and why?
I’ve used a variation of that title as part of the title for a number of presentations I’ve been giving across our local health board area, in an attempt to grab my audience attention.
What’s the issue?
Innapropriate use of antibiotics, particularly in our older population, to treat alledged urinary tract infection. Indeed, this article is prompted by a conversation this morning with one of my biomedical scientists in the lab. We were discussing the whole issue of interpretation of microbiology results and management of infection. She … Read the rest