Decisions taken to end the universal wearing of face masks in hospitals and doctors’ surgeries are placing patients and staff at greater risk of covid infection and need to be reversed, a group of healthcare workers in Scotland who are affected by long covid has said.
The Scottish Healthcare Workers Coalition, which is participating in the Scottish covid inquiry, described policies to withdraw mandatory mask wearing as flawed and dangerous and akin to playing “Russian roulette” with people’s lives.
The coalition has written to the Scottish government criticising guidance published in May that ended the requirement to …
A doctor has launched a judicial review against the General Medical Council (GMC) over the regulator’s refusal to investigate another doctor’s alleged misleading claims about covid vaccines.
Matt Kneale, a junior doctor, has previously complained to the GMC about the conduct of Aseem Malhotra, who has more than 550 000 followers on Twitter and has been posting claims since 2022 that vaccines against covid-19 are linked to cardiac illness and death. However, Kneale was told that the GMC would not be investigating Malhotra because his statements were not sufficiently “egregious” to merit action and he had a right to “freedom of speech.” Kneale’s appeal against this decision in 2023 was turned down.
He has now filed a claim with the High Court, arguing that the GMC should consider not only whether a doctor’s behaviour could harm individual patients but also whether their actions undermined public trust in medicine. …
### What you need to know
Around one in four adults who were hospitalised with covid-19 and one in six who were not hospitalised experience persistent breathing difficulties beyond four weeks after SARS-CoV-2 infection,12 and a cohort study in China demonstrated that breathlessness can persist beyond two years.3 In long covid (defined as symptoms beyond four weeks4) breathing difficulties can be the predominant feature or be part of a multisystem presentation.5 Cardiorespiratory complications after covid-19 include thromboembolic disease, interstitial lung disease, and heart failure and need to be excluded. This article predominantly focuses on other, more common causes of post-covid breathing difficulties that can be treated but are often less well understood.6
Definitive, evidence based protocols and treatment for persistent breathlessness after covid-19 are currently lacking. Until they exist, the pragmatic approach outlined here, including a careful history and examination and ap