Strep A lateral flow tests only available in Wales after England and Scotland opted not to fund them
Strep A lateral flow tests are only available in Wales, after England and Scotland previously decided not to fund the service.
A trial-run swab kit developed by Boots pharmacy in 2016 was adopted by the Welsh NHS but not elsewhere due to a lack of funding.
15 children have died from Strep A in England with one death in Wales and another in Northern Ireland.
Marc Donovan, director of healthcare development and public affairs at Boots told the Telegraph that of the UK’s national health service, “NHS Wales did pick it up and we worked with NHS Wales for a number of years”.
“We often try and do these pilot initiatives to help the NHS understand that there are solutions in community pharmacy and other areas of primary care,” he said.
“Many Welsh health boards have launched the sore throat test and treat service as part of the NHS, and Scotland and England haven’t picked this up but it’s very successful. Of course it’s inundated, as you can imagine, at the moment.”
He suggested that its adoption elsewhere might ease the demand on NHS 111 helplines.
“It’s very, very similar to the Covid test. You take the swab, put it into a solution and get a result,” he said.
“It identifies people where the cause of the infection is Strep A and then we could prescribe antibiotics. But importantly it also identifies people where the symptoms were caused by a virus and we give them reassuring advice and send them on their way.”
‘Signs’
Group A strep bacteria can cause many different infections, ranging from minor illnesses to deadly diseases.
Illnesses caused by Strep A include the skin infection impetigo, scarlet fever and strep throat.
While the vast majority of infections are relatively mild, sometimes the bacteria cause a life-threatening illness called invasive Group A Streptococcal disease.
The UKHSA has said there is no current evidence that a new strain is circulating and the rise in cases is most likely due to high amounts of circulating bacteria and increased social mixing.
Since September, the UKHSA said there have been 652 reports of invasive Strep disease, higher than at the same points over the last five years.
So far this season, there have been 85 cases in children aged one to four, compared to 194 cases in that age group across the whole of the last high season in 2017/2018.
There have also been 60 cases in children aged five to nine.
Since September, 60 deaths have been reported across all age groups in England.
Dr Colin Brown, deputy director of the UKHSA, said: “Scarlet fever and ‘strep throat’ are common childhood illnesses that can be treated easily with antibiotics.
“Please visit NHS.uk, contact 111 online or your GP surgery if your child has symptoms of this infection so they can be assessed for treatment.
“Very rarely, the bacteria can get into the bloodstream and cause more serious illness called invasive Group A strep.
“We know that this is concerning for parents, but I want to stress that while we are seeing an increase in cases in children, this remains very uncommon.
“There a lots of winter bugs circulating that can make your child feel unwell, that mostly aren’t cause for alarm.
“However, make sure you talk to a health professional if your child is getting worse after a bout of scarlet fever, a sore throat or respiratory infection – look out for signs such as a fever that won’t go down, dehydration, extreme tiredness and difficulty breathing.”
‘Blips’
Figures show that scarlet fever cases remain much higher than normal.
The UKHSA said cases usually show steepest rises in the New Year, but have increased sharply in recent weeks.
So far this season (from September 12 to December 4), there have been 6,601 cases of scarlet fever, more than twice as high as the 2,538 at the same point in the last comparably high season in 2017/2018.
It comes as pharmacists continue to use Twitter to complain of shortages in access to antibiotics, including the liquid version of penicillin, which is often given to children.
UK Health Secretary Steve Barclay insisted on Wednesday that checks within the Department of Health have not revealed an issue with supply of the medicines in England.
However, the National Pharmacy Association has pointed to “blips” in the supply chain of liquid penicillin, while the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies said pharmacists across the country were struggling to source all they need.
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Ths SNP has really shown themselves up by acting the same way as the Saesneg do…. Perhaps that is why there is a reluctance to close schools early in Cymru, because we are already dealing with the situation, whereas England and Scotland tried to do a bit of penny-pinching (even though it should be abundantly clear by now that penny-pinching when it comes to health and environment is asking for a catastrophe) and are (again!) behind the curve of a medical situation that appears to be growing by the day. ….However, due to the lack of anti-biotics (and the spectre… Read more »
This prescient action was taken while Vaughan Gething was in post no doubt…