scholarly journals COVID-19 lockdown and recovery: a dental public health perspective from Lancashire and South Cumbria

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 31-40
Author(s):  
Ross Keat

The COVID-19 pandemic has created novel barriers in providing and accessing all forms of healthcare, including dentistry. The national dental response during the first peak of the pandemic resulted in rapid changes in the provision of service, to safeguard providers and users of dental care. Such rapidly leveraged changes resulted in several issues in service delivery, requiring careful input from managers and commissioners within NHS England and Improvement, trainees and consultants in dental public health within Public Health England, and frontline dental teams working across the health and social care system. The local response from Lancashire and South Cumbria is outlined within this article. Teamwork, communication and reflexive, iterative learning from these groups ensured the delivery of an Urgent Dental Care service during the first lockdown of the pandemic. The impact of COVID-19 has enabled considerable learning which will inform future pandemic planning, alongside providing the opportunity to deliver meaningful change within NHS dentistry as the service continues to recover.

Author(s):  
Alexander C. Razavi ◽  
Tanika N. Kelly ◽  
Jiang He ◽  
Camilo Fernandez ◽  
Paul K. Whelton ◽  
...  

Abstract Medicine and public health have traditionally separated the prevention and treatment of communicable and noncommunicable diseases. The coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID ‐19) pandemic has challenged this paradigm, particularly in the setting of cardiovascular disease ( CVD ). Overall, individuals with underlying CVD who acquire severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 experience up to a 10‐fold higher case‐fatality rate compared with the general population. Although the impact of the pandemic on cardiovascular health continues to evolve, few have defined this association from a frontline, public health perspective of populations disproportionately affected by CVD and COVID ‐19. Louisiana is ranked within the bottom 5 states for cardiovascular health, and it is home to several parishes that have experienced among the highest COVID ‐19 case‐fatality rates nationally. Herein, we review CVD prevention and implications of COVID ‐19 in New Orleans, LA, a city holding a sobering yet resilient history with previous public health disasters. In particular, we discuss potential pandemic‐driven changes in access to health care, preventive pharmacotherapy, and lifestyle behaviors, all of which may adversely affect CVD prevention and management, while amplifying racial disparities. Through this process, we highlight proposed recommendations for how CVD prevention efforts can be improved in the midst of the current COVID ‐19 pandemic and future public health crises.


Author(s):  
Ana Borovecki ◽  
Pamela Tozzo ◽  
Nicoletta Cerri ◽  
Luciana Caenazzo

In recent years, a social trend toward delaying childbearing has been observed in women of reproductive age. A novel technomedical innovation was commercialized for non-medical reasons to healthy, ostensibly fertile women, who wished to postpone motherhood for various reasons such as educational or career demands, or because they had not yet found a partner. As a consequence, these women may be affected by age-related infertility when they decide to conceive, and fertility preservation techniques can be obtained through the so-called social egg freezing. This paper examines, from an ethical point of view, the impact of social egg freezing under some aspects that can involve policy making and resources allocation in public health. Due to the increasing demand for this procedure, some debated issues regard if it is reasonable to include social egg freezing in Public Healthcare System and consequently how to manage the storage of cryopreserved oocytes also from individual donors, how to support these egg banks and how to face, in the future, with the possibility that egg freezing will play a role in enabling childbearing for gays, lesbians, and unmarried persons. Social freezing may be advertised to harmonise gender differences, but we wonder if it is the proper solution to the problem or if it could also create further challenges. An ethical argumentation on these topics should address some questions that will be discussed.


Author(s):  
Jordan E. DeVylder ◽  
Deidre M. Anglin ◽  
Lisa Bowleg ◽  
Lisa Fedina ◽  
Bruce G. Link

Despite their enormous potential impact on population health and health inequities, police violence and use of excessive force have only recently been addressed from a public health perspective. Moving to change this state of affairs, this article considers police violence in the USA within a social determinants and health disparities framework, highlighting recent literature linking this exposure to mental health symptoms, physical health conditions, and premature mortality. The review demonstrates that police violence is common in the USA; is disproportionately directed toward Black, Latinx, and other marginalized communities; and exerts a significant and adverse effect on a broad range of health outcomes. The state-sponsored nature of police violence, its embedding within a historical and contemporary context of structural racism, and the unique circumstances of the exposure itself make it an especially salient and impactful form of violence exposure, both overlapping with and distinct from other forms of violence. We conclude by noting potential solutions that clinicaly psychology and allied fields may offer to alleviate the impact of police violence, while simultaneously recognizing that a true solution to this issue requires a drastic reformation or replacement of the criminal justice system, as well as addressing the broader context of structural and systemic racism in the USA. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, Volume 18 is May 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.


2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Gaurav Gupta ◽  
Manu Narayan ◽  
Navin A Ingle ◽  
Sabyasachi Saha ◽  
Sahana Shivkumar

ABSTRACT Oral health care for children and adults with disabilities is a health care area that has received scant attention. It is seen that most persons with a significant disability cannot find a professional resource to provide appropriate and necessary dental care. Lack of access to dental services for this growing segment of our population is reaching critical levels and is a national dilemma.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ciara Conlon ◽  
Thérèse McDonnell ◽  
Michael Barrett ◽  
Fergal Cummins ◽  
Conor Deasy ◽  
...  

Abstract BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent public health guidance to reduce the spread of the disease have wide-reaching implications for children’s health and wellbeing. Furthermore, paediatric emergency departments (EDs) have rapidly adapted provision of care in response to the pandemic. This qualitative study utilized insight from multidisciplinary frontline staff to understand 1) the changes in paediatric emergency healthcare utilization during COVID-19 2) the experiences of working within the restructured health system. MethodsFifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with frontline staff working in two paediatric EDs and two mixed adult and children EDs. Participants included emergency medicine clinicians (n = 5), nursing managerial staff (n=6), social workers (n=2) and nursing staff (n = 2). Thematic Analysis (TA) was applied to the data to identify key themes. ResultsThe pandemic and public health restrictions have had an adverse impact on children’s health and psychosocial wellbeing, compounded by difficulty in accessing primary and community services. The impact may have been more acute for children with disabilities and chronic health conditions and has raised child protection issues for vulnerable children. EDs have shown innovation and agility in the structural and operational changes they have implemented to continue to deliver care to children, however resource limitations and other challenges must be addressed to ensure high quality care delivery and protect the wellbeing of those tasked with delivering this care.Conclusions The spread of COVID-19 and subsequent polices to address the pandemic has had wide-reaching implications for children’s health and wellbeing. The interruption to health and social care services is manifesting in myriad ways in the ED, such as a rise in psychosocial presentations. As the pandemic continues to progress, policy makers and service providers must ensure the continued provision of essential health and social services, including targeted responses for those with existing conditions.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Butler ◽  
Zara Quigg ◽  
Isabelle Pearson ◽  
Zhamin Yelgezekova ◽  
Aasa Nihlén ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Globally, concerns have been raised that the priority implementation of public health measures in response to COVID-19 may have unintended negative impacts on a variety of other health and wellbeing factors, including violence. This study examined the impact of COVID-19 response measures on changes in violence against women and children (VAWC) service utilisation across European countries. Methods: A rapid assessment design was used to compile data including: a survey distributed across WHO Europe Healthy Cities Networks and Violence Injury Prevention Focal Points in WHO European Region member states; and, a scoping review of media reports, journal articles and reports. Searches were conducted in English and Russian and covered the period between 1 January 2020 and 17 September 2020. Data extracted included: country; violence type; service sector; and change in service utilisation during COVID-19. All data pertained to the period during which COVID-19 related public health measures were implemented compared to a period before restrictions were in place.Results: Overall, findings suggested that there was a median reported increase in VAWC service utilisation of approximately 20% during the COVID-19 pandemic. Crucially however, change in service utilisation differed across sectors. After categorising each estimate as reflecting an increase or decrease in VAWC service utilisation, there was a significant association between sector and change in service utilisation; the majority of NGO estimates (95.1%) showed an increase in utilisation, compared to 58.2% of law enforcement estimates and 42.9% of health and social care estimates.Conclusions: The variation across sectors in changes in VAWC service utilisation has important implications for policy makers in the event of ongoing and future restrictions related to COVID-19 and more generally during other times of prolonged presence in the home. The increased global attention on VAWC during the pandemic should be used to drive forward the agenda on prevention, increase access to services, and implement better data collection mechanisms to ensure the momentum and increased focus on VAWC during the pandemic is not wasted.


Author(s):  
Alex Collie ◽  
Michael Di Donato ◽  
Dianne Beck ◽  
Luke R Sheehan

IntroductionNearly one quarter of a million Australian workers experience a work injury annually and make a benefit claim through one of the nation’s eleven workers’ compensation (WC) systems. The total cost to Australian society has most recently been estimated at $61.8 billion or 4.1% of GDP. The disaggregation of legislative responsibility between jurisdictions has contributed to a lack of common data standards, and thus minimal understanding of the efficiency or effectiveness of service provision in the Australian WC sector. Objectives and ApproachThis project developed a new multi-jurisdictional work disability database including detailed information on work disability duration, health and social care service provision. Service level payment data contained in structured WC insurance claims datasets held by five large WC jurisdictions with >60% coverage of the Australian labour force was collected for all cases of work-related low back pain, fractures and limb soft tissue disease over between 2010 and 2015. Database development involved creation and coding of harmonised service-level indicators for individual episodes of healthcare provision and weekly periods of wage replacement. ResultsA total of 253,000 cases and 10.7 million service episodes are included in the database. Initial exploratory analyses focused on the frequency, prevalence, timing, intensity and continuity of General Practitioner (GP) services to each of the injury groups. Regression modelling examined occupational, injury, demographic and jurisdictional factors affecting GP service use outcomes. As anticipated, service patterns varied by injury type, age, gender and occupational group. Significant differences in service use between WC jurisdictions were observed. Conclusion / ImplicationsThis exploratory study demonstrates the feasibility of developing a population-based service level database for monitoring health service delivery to injured Australian workers. Future studies will examine the impact of jurisdictional policy differences on service delivery, and the relationship between service delivery and outcomes such as disability duration.


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