This month Nursing in Practice uncovered just what an uphill battle nurses have to try and catch-up with routine work as services resume after the initial wave in the UK of Covid-19, in a major in depth piece.

Practice and community nurses are struggling to catch up with the back-log left by pausing services, including routine smear tests. Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust estimates 600,000 smear tests have been missed across England, Wales and Scotland during lockdown.

One of the greatest concerns is the number of cancer cases that have been missed or diagnosed late. Practice and community nurses are helping to ensure people with cancer are diagnosed and treated, but this is now often being done when the disease is at a more advanced stage than would otherwise have been the case without Covid-19.

Content on our fresh-look website has continued to be popular, with cancer stories proving to be a particular subject of interest, along with the plans for a massive push to increase flu jabs in preparation for the winter and stories on respiratory conditions and Covid-19.

We continue to have many bleak stories about care homes and their particularly difficult time during the pandemic, and the Government’s apparent slow moves to help protect their staff and residents. To a lack of personal protective equipment to the slow delivery of tests, it does seem, as the Public Accounts Committee said this month that the Government had thrown care homes ‘to the wolves’.

But, on a more positive note, we had a compassionate piece on how important touch is for the well-being of older people this month, which people on Twitter said was reassuring at this time.

Instead we have launched three virtual ‘festivals’ which will provide our attendees with a huge range of invaluable content and learning opportunities that can be accessed from the comfort of their own homes throughout the Autumn. These festivals will continue to provide expert-led presentations, talks, discussions, and case studies to keep our audience updated on the latest clinical guidance and professional advice during this time.

The move to virtual events in 2020 will offer our industry partners a fantastic opportunity to reach an audience who would currently be restricted from attending a face-to-face meetings. Including all the key elements of a traditional conference, with a virtual ‘venue’, live presentations, on-demand seminars, and a sponsor showcase, this is a unique opportunity to ensure that our partners can still meet their engagement goals and share key messages with their client base.

The virtual festival will allow our audience to join live interactive talks, visit digital exhibitor booths, access on-demand sessions and download resources to refer back to at a later date, all designed to fit around the increased demands and change in working practices presented this year.

Whilst this is the most comprehensive virtual event to be run on each of these popular brands, Cogora has extensive experience in delivering webinars and other learning in a digital format and has already this year quickly reacted to restrictions by hosting successful virtual roundtables and events.

More information including the agendas, speaker line-ups, and how to register will be announced in the coming weeks. To register your interest in attending or enquire about sponsorship opportunities, please email us.

 

Syed Naqvi and Marios Adamou provide a useful summary of the updated NICE guideline on ADHD. The guideline emphasises the importance of considering the preferences of patients, families and carers, encourages healthcare professionals to take a more holistic approach in managing people with ADHD, and makes recommendations for development of services that can support people across the lifespan.

A team from Madrid share the results of their recent research into medicines disposal and storage practices for a series of outpatients attending their hospital pharmacy. Factors such as higher education status and the presence of children in the home were identified as risk factors for incorrect disposal practices and the article shows that there is much room for improvement regarding information and awareness around these issues.

Unlike colleagues in hospitals, practices are able to change the way they work ‘within a minute’ as one GP points out in the cover feature – and they want NHS policymakers to know they don’t want to give this regained autonomy up.

Meanwhile, we predict for how long GPs will be able to enjoy relaxed regulatory procedures as a result of the pandemic, such as a halting of routine inspections and suspension of appraisals, and ask what does the future hold for bureaucratic tasks in general.

The issue also features GP and executive member of the Ghanaian Doctors and Dentists Association UK Dr Adwoa Danso speaking about how racism in the NHS still exists and what can be done about it, starting with rethinking the term ‘BAME’. Dr Danso also explains how trust needs to be rebuilt between the NHS and people from minority ethnic backgrounds in our wider analysis of the Government’s review of the higher Covid-19 risk to black, Asian and minority ethnic people and what it means for GPs.

The news and investigations team won Team of the Year, beating strong competition from Digital Spy, GQ, Good Housekeeping and a range of others. The judges said the team have ‘have dedication and editorial excellence that everyone can learn from’. It is the fourth time in five years the team has won!

We also won Scoop of the Year for Lea Legraien’s piece on practice closures. The judges said it ‘put the spotlight on an issue of national importance and led to real change’. 

And finally, Ellie Philpotts got a ‘highly commended’ as Editorial Assistant of the Year, the judges ‘were impressed by the originality of your ideas, great contacts, and proactivity. Despite being relatively new to your role, you definitely made it your own!’

We found while nurses have quickly got to grips with new ways of working during the coronavirus crisis it is taking a physical and mental toll that could ultimately lead to greater workforce pressures.

Columns from practice nurses Marilyn Eveleigh and Rhona Aikman show just how resilient nurses have been in the face of the crisis, and GPN Elia Monteiro writes about her experience in a Covid-19 ‘hot hub’ – a centre set up to help patients who potentially have the virus.

In our debate this issue we ask whether student nurses should step forward to work on the frontline and have advice for clinicians who are struggling mentally at the moment.

We bust the myth that the Covid-19 is like seasonal flu and give tips on how to help patients with their mental health at this time.

In non-Covid content, we speak to a network of student nurses on their work promoting the role of the GPN as a first career step and look at research showing how personal preferences are key to advanced care planning.

The Ninja Nurse campaign was original run in 2018 and was done in partnership with the New NHS Alliance, which is once again supporting us. The original campaign was to highlight the work of practice nurses, and this time we are expanding it to cover community nurses and midwives too.

We are doing this in the year of the World Health Organization’s International Year of the Nurse and Midwife as many of the events that were to run alongside it have been cancelled.

Nursing in Practice wants to ensure practice and community nurses, and midwives, are recognised for going above and beyond in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Demand for GP practices went down at the start of lockdown, at the same time as non-Covid secondary care activity dramatically reduced. But, with measures now being eased, GPs are getting ready for a spike in demand – from patients who were staying away, and those who aren’t able to get specialist appointments.

We also look into the high rates of black, Asian and minority ethnic GPs being affected by the virus, and what various groups are doing to address this. We pay tribute to those GPs who have tragically passed away as a result of the pandemic.

In our clinical section, we focus on managing the impact of Covid-19 on psychiatric problems in primary care, and run our next set of ‘Clinical Crises’, including inflammatory arthritis, new-onset atrial fibrillation, heart failure, potential brain tumour and erythroderma. Plus we have top tips on caring for isolated patients, and tips on remote consulting for MSK.

Elsewhere, we have a debate on whether remote consulting should be the default option post-Covid, a page of positive news and Copperfield’s strangled cry against the hero worship.