The days and weeks are passing so quickly, but there are moments when a call stops you in your tracks, and you feel the impact of what we’re going through.
Dr Vishna Rasiah was a consultant neonatologist at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s, and it was very sad to hear he died last week from COVID-19. He was an exceptional doctor, mentor, and clinical leader. We also sadly learned of the deaths of Dr Rajesh Kalraiya, who was a consultant paediatrician in Essex, and Dr Judith Darmady, a retired paediatrician from Norwich. It was incredibly moving to read the tributes each of them. My heart goes out to their families, and to all who knew and worked with them.
This week also brought a new challenge following widespread reporting about a COVID-related illness in children. There is emerging evidence that a very small group of children are presenting with a range of symptoms that may be linked to COVID-19. These have been reported mainly in London, but also in other parts of the country and by colleagues in Spain, Italy and Ireland. Again, I emphasise that we are talking about only a handful of cases.
It's vital that we continue to reassure parents that COVID-19 is very unlikely to cause problems for children
It is a testament to our health service that this issue has been escalated with speed, and a case definition has already been produced. This is, necessarily, a pragmatic document that does not attempt to account for the many things we don’t know at this stage. The critical thing for us to communicate is that parents shouldn’t panic. This is an exceptionally rare illness and we’ve moved at speed to account for it and prepare for the very small number of presentations we’ll see. Our advice to parents does not change. If your child is unwell, contact your GP, 111, or come and see us in the emergency department. This is a novel virus and the road we’re on will be long. It’s vital that we continue to reassure parents that COVID-19 is very unlikely to cause problems for children.
I also want to let you know about the next webinar, which is for trainees and takes place on Tuesday, 5 May (2020). My colleagues Dr David Evans and Dr Hannah Jacob will be on hand to talk and take questions about how we’re supporting trainees through what has clearly been a very disruptive and unsettling period. [Information about webinar no longer available.]
As it’s the 1st of May, and despite the weather, I want to finish on a note of congratulations. This year we offered three awards for involvement in paediatric research, The Lorber Award, The Simon Newell award and the PIER prize. This was hotly contested, and I offer my congratulations to Dr Francesco Saverio Tedesco, Dr Sunil Bhopal, Dr Shuko Joseph, and members of the excellent Cleft Collective Speech and Language Study. Well done to all.
That’s it for now.
Russell
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