Medical Centre

Can I have a BBQ on the front of my house with others from my street? Under the Rule of Six, you can only meet with a group of more than six if they are from your household and one other household (a maximum of two households). For example, if there were four people in your household and four in another household, the eight of you could meet for a BBQ as you are from two households. If your group is from more than two households, then a maximum of six people can meet, so you could not hold a BBQ for your entire street.   Can I use my friend's toilet? You are allowed to use your friend’s toilet if this is necessary. You should though avoid interacting or coming into close contact with anyone from your friend’s house while you are indoors as this is where the risk of infection is greatest. You should also wear a face mask or face covering whilst indoors, wash or sanitise your hands when entering the house, and spend the minimum time indoors. After using the toilet, wash your ...

Why should children have the vaccine? Children will usually have a mild or asymptomatic illness and are very unlikely to die if they contract Covid-19. But they can sometimes have a prolonged illness that can result in them being absent from school and which can also occasionally lead to serious long-term complications, such as Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome. Children can also transmit infection to others at higher risk of serious illness and death, such as their parents and grandparents.   Will all under-18s get the jab or specific groups/age groups? Covid-19 vaccines will only be made available to children once we have good evidence of their safety and efficacy, and they have been licensed for use in children in the UK by the MHRA. It’s likely that any vaccination programme for children will start with those old enough to attend secondary school (above the age of 11 years), with vaccinations for younger children starting later.   Will it be compulsory? Child...

As the global covid-19 vaccine rollout continues, uncertainties regarding the association between thromboembolic events and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine have dominated the news during March, leading 18  European countries  to suspend its use whilst this association was investigated by the European Medicines Agency. This suspension of the vaccine will have serious implications for vaccine confidence in general and, in particular, for global vaccination programmes. It has already  heightened anxiety levels and affected vaccine uptake especially among vaccine-hesitant groups due to claims about side effects that are not supported by real world data or data from clinical trials. Of all the covid-19 vaccines currently licensed or in development, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was considered the vaccination of choice by many countries because of its low cost and ease of storage compared to other vaccines. In the UK, more than  25 million people  have had their first...

Should I really be worried about blood clots? The AstraZeneca vaccine has been given to many millions of people across the world (over 10 million in the UK). A few of these people have suffered from blood clots after receiving the vaccine but no causal relationship has been found and the number of people affected is not above what we would expect in the general population in people who did not receive the vaccine. How safe is the vaccine? The clinical trials in which the vaccine was tested showed it was very safe, with a very low level of serious side effects and this has been confirmed subsequently in the wider use of the vaccine in the UK and elsewhere. Why are so many countries suspending it? When a possible side effect is linked to a drug or vaccine, some countries will temporarily suspend use of the product until this has been investigated further. This does not mean that the vaccine is unsafe and we would expect further review of the data to confirm its safety. Now that...

In March 2020, the World Health Organization classified Covid-19 as an international pandemic. Initial guidance from many organisations identified people who might be more vulnerable to covid-19, based on knowledge of those known to be most susceptible to adverse outcomes from the influenza virus. Health conditions divided individuals into those who are “extremely vulnerable,” for whom shielding is required, and those at “increased risk of severe illness.” In a paper published in the British Medical Journal , we provided guidance for employers on assessing risk for healthcare workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. Risk management should involve training, measuring how well control measures are working, and learning from that experience. A risk management process should also involve consultation with staff. The pandemic has created an opportunity to improve safety in the workplace beyond covid-19, to consider cultural factors, and to ensure that all staff feel included and supported to r...

Our new paper published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine discusses whether the government should take ethnicity into account when establishing priority groups for Covid-19 vaccination as one component of a strategy to target health inequalities.  COVID-19 has disproportionately affected Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups, resulting in higher rates of infection, hospitalisation and death. The COVID-19 pandemic has also exposed the pre-existing racial and socioeconomic inequalities in the UK. However, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has omitted ethnic minorities from the top priority groups which include older age, frontline health and social care workers, and care home staff and residents. The invisibility of these vulnerable groups from the priority list and the worsening healthcare inequities and inequalities are putting ethnic minorities at a significantly higher risk of COVID-19 illness and death. The UK’s vaccine allocation strate...

Our new study published in the journal Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism shows a lower incidence of sight‐threatening diabetic retinopathy in people with type 2 diabetes who meet QOF targets for HBA1c, blood pressure and lipid control.  We aimed to examine the impact of attainment of primary care diabetes clinical indicators on progression to sight‐threatening diabetic retinopathy (STDR) among those with mild non‐proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR).  We carried out a historical cohort study of 18,978 adults (43.63% female) diagnosed with type 2 diabetes before 1 April 2010 and mild NPDR before 1 April 2011 was conducted. The data were obtained from the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink during 2010‐2017, provided by 330 primary care practices in England. Exposures included attainment of the Quality and Outcomes Framework HbA1c (≤59 mmol/mol [≤7.5%]), blood pressure (≤140/80 mmHg) and cholesterol (≤5 mmol/L) indicators in the financial year 2010‐2011, as well as the n...