Will UK see a post-coronavirus surge in preventable deaths?

The data was revealed to senior doctors and nurses at a national briefing on infection control as a growing number of people put off seeking medical help for other illnesses for fear of contracting the new coronavirus, reports The Guardian. However, healthcare sources told The Guardian that those figures were skewed because one trust was known to have poor infection control procedures in place, and that the true rate nationally is currently between 5% and 7%.  Have people stopped going to hospital? “I’m really worried there is a very real risk that some children with illnesses such as appendicitis, dehydration or even sepsis are not being brought to see healthcare professionals as quickly as they would be normally,” Sanjay Patel, a consultant in paediatric infectious diseases at Southampton Children’s Hospital, told ITV News. Welcoming the move, Simon Ray, president of the British Cardiovascular Society, said: “The biggest concern is that it seems there has been a uniform reduction in hospital attendances for heart attacks that has been noted in Italy, Spain and here. “The sustained drop in A&E attendances is a significant concern given that many of those who have put off coming to hospitals as long as they possibly could during the first wave will be seeking treatment and could potentially be in worse conditions,” Nick Scriven, former president of the Society for Acute Medicine, told Campbell. “There may be people who would have been referred to specialists for assessment of potentially serious conditions, where there is now a delay in offering appointments or indeed clinics may simply have been cancelled,” Tom Dening, professor of dementia research at the University of Nottingham, told Science Focus.

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