Author | Rachel Clarke |
---|---|
Subject | COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom |
Set in | NHS |
Published | 2021 |
Publisher | Little, Brown and Company |
Publication place | United Kingdom |
Pages | 228 |
ISBN | 978-1-4087-1378-5 |
Preceded by | Your Life in My Hands (2017) Dear Life, a doctor's story of love and loss (2020) |
Breathtaking: Inside the NHS in a Time of Pandemic is a 2021 memoir by British physician Rachel Clarke, published by Little, Brown and Company. It is based on the NHS during the first four months of 2020, leading up to and including the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. [1] [2] The book was adapted by Clarke, Jed Mercurio, and Prasanna Puwanarajah, to produce a TV series of the same name , first broadcast in 2024. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
The book was preceded by Your Life in My Hands (2017) and Dear Life (2020). [9]
The Lancet is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also one of the world's highest-impact academic journals. It was founded in England in 1823.
Sir Simon Charles Wessely is a British psychiatrist. He is Regius Professor of Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London and head of its department of psychological medicine, vice dean for academic psychiatry, teaching and training at the Institute of Psychiatry, as well as Director of the King's Centre for Military Health Research. He is also honorary consultant psychiatrist at King's College Hospital and the Maudsley Hospital, as well as civilian consultant advisor in psychiatry to the British Army. He was knighted in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to military healthcare and to psychological medicine. From 2014 to 2017, he was the elected president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and then became the first psychiatrist to be elected as President of the Royal Society of Medicine in 200 years.
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is the British government's major funder of clinical, public health, social care and translational research. With a budget of over £1.2 billion in 2020–21, its mission is to "improve the health and wealth of the nation through research". The NIHR was established in 2006 under the government's Best Research for Best Health strategy, and is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care. As a research funder and research partner of the NHS, public health and social care, the NIHR complements the work of the Medical Research Council. NIHR focuses on translational research, clinical research and applied health and social care research.
Public Health England (PHE) was an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care in England which began operating on 1 April 2013 to protect and improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities. Its formation came as a result of the reorganisation of the National Health Service (NHS) in England outlined in the Health and Social Care Act 2012. It took on the role of the Health Protection Agency, the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse and a number of other health bodies. It was an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care, and a distinct delivery organisation with operational autonomy.
Neil Greenberg is an academic psychiatrist, who is a specialist in the understanding and management of psychological trauma, occupational mental ill-health and post traumatic stress disorder. Greenberg works with King's College London and served as the President of the UK Psychological Trauma Society from 2014 to 2017. He also runs the psychological health consultancy March on Stress. During the 2020 COVID pandemic, Greenberg was part of the NHS England and Improvement Wellbeing Team and contributed to the national response to protect the mental health of NHS workers.
Rachel Clarke is a British writer and physician, specialising in end of life care at Katharine House Hospice, Oxford. She is the author of Breathtaking (2021), an account of working inside the NHS during the UK's first wave of COVID-19, a work that formed the basis of a TV series of the same name. Her former works include her memoir about life as a newly qualified medical practitioner, Your Life in My Hands (2017), and Dear Life (2020), which explores death, dying and end-of-life care.
The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. It spread to other areas of Asia, and then worldwide in early 2020. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) on 30 January 2020, and assessed the outbreak as having become a pandemic on 11 March.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Most scientists believe the SARS-CoV-2 virus entered into human populations through natural zoonosis, similar to the SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV outbreaks, and consistent with other pandemics in human history. Social and environmental factors including climate change, natural ecosystem destruction and wildlife trade increased the likelihood of such zoonotic spillover. The disease quickly spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted healthcare workers physically and psychologically. Healthcare workers are more vulnerable to COVID-19 infection than the general population due to frequent contact with positive COVID-19 patients. Healthcare workers have been required to work under stressful conditions without proper protective equipment, and make difficult decisions involving ethical implications. Health and social systems across the globe are struggling to cope. The situation is especially challenging in humanitarian, fragile and low-income country contexts, where health and social systems are already weak. Services to provide sexual and reproductive health care risk being sidelined, which will lead to higher maternal mortality and morbidity.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had many impacts on global health beyond those caused by the COVID-19 disease itself. It has led to a reduction in hospital visits for other reasons. There have been 38 per cent fewer hospital visits for heart attack symptoms in the United States and 40 per cent fewer in Spain. The head of cardiology at the University of Arizona said, "My worry is some of these people are dying at home because they're too scared to go to the hospital." There is also concern that people with strokes and appendicitis are not seeking timely treatment. Shortages of medical supplies have impacted people with various conditions.
Margaret Mary McCartney is a general practitioner, freelance writer and broadcaster based in Glasgow, Scotland. McCartney is a vocal advocate for evidence-based medicine. McCartney was a regular columnist at the British Medical Journal. She regularly writes articles for The Guardian and currently contributes to the BBC Radio 4 programme, Inside Health. She has written three popular science books, The Patient Paradox, The State of Medicine and Living with Dying. During the COVID-19 pandemic, McCartney contributed content to academic journals and broadcasting platforms, personal blog, and social media to inform the public and dispel myths about coronavirus disease.
The treatment and management of COVID-19 combines both supportive care, which includes treatment to relieve symptoms, fluid therapy, oxygen support as needed, and a growing list of approved medications. Highly effective vaccines have reduced mortality related to SARS-CoV-2; however, for those awaiting vaccination, as well as for the estimated millions of immunocompromised persons who are unlikely to respond robustly to vaccination, treatment remains important. Some people may experience persistent symptoms or disability after recovery from the infection, known as long COVID, but there is still limited information on the best management and rehabilitation for this condition.
The COVID-19 vaccination programme in the United Kingdom is an ongoing mass immunisation campaign for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.
Dr Samantha Batt-Rawden is a British intensive care and pre-hospital doctor.
Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are anti-malarial medications also used against some auto-immune diseases. Chloroquine, along with hydroxychloroquine, was an early experimental treatment for COVID-19. Neither drug has been useful to prevent or treat SARS-CoV-2 infection. Administration of chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine to COVID-19 patients, either as monotherapies or in conjunction with azithromycin, has been associated with deleterious outcomes, such as QT prolongation. As of 2024, scientific evidence does not substantiate the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine, with or without the addition of azithromycin, in the therapeutic management of COVID-19.
The United Kingdom's response to the COVID-19 pandemic consists of various measures by the healthcare community, the British and devolved governments, the military and the research sector.
The following is a timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in England during 2022. There are significant differences in the legislation and the reporting between the countries of the UK: England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales.
Breathtaking is a British medical drama television series, written by Rachel Clarke, Jed Mercurio, and Prasanna Puwanarajah, based on Clarke's 2021 memoir of the same name on the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It stars Joanne Froggatt and was directed by Craig Viveiros.
Your Life in My Hands: A Junior Doctor's Story is a 2017 memoir by British physician Rachel Clarke, published by Metro Books. It gives an account of her experiences as a newly qualified doctor in the UK. It was followed by Dear Life (2020) and Breathtaking (2021).
Dear Life, a doctor's story of love and loss is a 2020 memoir by British physician Rachel Clarke, published by Little, Brown and Company. It succeeded Clarke's first book Your Life in My Hands (2017) and was followed by her third memoir Breathtaking (2021).