Twenty years ago, I and two colleagues wrote a book called The Sexual Politics of Disability, based on conversations with 44 disabled people about their gender, sexuality, self-image and experience of sex and love. Recently, we revisited some of the original participants and what we found was that there had been some profound changes for […]
Despite having observed at first hand the effects of patient complaint procedures against doctors for several years now, I have been surprised by the extent of doctors’ unhappiness and despair at what they see as a vindictive and unfair process. The number of patient complaints against doctors has risen significantly in recent years – with […]
At the start of my internship, a 16-year-old girl was brought into the emergency room; she was in a coma. She had been sick for a long time, and her family abandoned her as they thought she was pregnant. It was her neighbour who brought her to the hospital. The girl was very skinny for […]
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Recent sexually transmitted infection (STI) figures from Public Health England show that young women are continuing to benefit from the introduction of the nationwide Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccination programme in 2008. All girls aged 12 to 13 are offered the vaccine as part of the NHS childhood vaccination programme, and an eight per cent […]
Overall diagnoses of sexually transmitted infections were down last year, according to latest figures released by Public Health England, which show that there were 434,465 diagnoses in 2015, compared to 449,642 in 2014. However, this 3% reduction was in large part due to less chlamydia testing taking place among young people – 135,000 fewer tests […]
Mammograms, or X-ray pictures of the breast, have been used for decades to detect early stage cancers. They are a useful tool but they have their drawbacks, not least that they do not work well in women who have dense breast tissue, who tend to be younger, and they only pick up masses that are […]
Are you one of the millions of people in the UK feeling the effects of Brexit Strexit – in other words, you are demoralised, confused and worried that no one in authority seems to have a clue about what to do next? Unfortunately, you can’t do much to change the current situation, but you can […]
“Our team of scientists at Imperial College, London have developed a robotic rectum to help doctors and nurses detect prostate cancer. A rectal examination is often the first test a doctor or nurse uses to recognise a problem prostate. This determines whether they send a patient for further tests. The walnut-size gland sits below a man’s bladder, and […]
Smiley yellow faces are not just for emojis. We decided to use this familiar symbol on our new app to help people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome to identify whether supermarket products are suitable for them. IBS is a common condition which can be debilitating but we know that many IBS sufferers find relief if they […]
Stress that is veering into the danger zone comes with tell-tale physical and emotional signs. These are the key things to look out for. Physical: “When we are in a fight or flight situation, the body releases lots of stress hormones including cortisol to gear the body up to cope with an emergency. Someone who […]
Read More… from When good stress turns bad: the signs to look for