'The incident triage area': a response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Bristol Royal Infirmary.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals nationwide have been presented with a number of potential challenges, including possible increased volume of patient attendances, acuity of illness and potential for patients to present with an infection that requires isolation. At the Bristol Royal Infirmary, an innercity teaching hospital that manages patients aged 16 and over, we present our response to these projected changes in ED attendances, with the initiation of the incident triage area (ITA). The ITA is a triage station situated outside the ED and staffed by a senior clinician, healthcare assistant and patient flow coordinator.

Is our bTB policy one of the worst attempts to control a major notifiable disease ever seen?

A group of experienced vets argue that the lack of control of endemically TB-infected communities of badgers has resulted in a bovine TB dilemma that is worse now than it was 50 years ago.

Improved immediate breast reconstruction as a result of oncoplastic multidisciplinary meeting.

Introduction: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines recommend that breast reconstruction should be available to all women undergoing mastectomy and discussed at the initial surgical consultation (2002, and updated 2009). The National Mastectomy and Breast Reconstruction Audit (2009) showed that 21% of mastectomy patients underwent immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) and 11% had delayed breast reconstruction (DBR). Breast reconstruction has been shown to have a positive effect on quality of life postmastectomy.