Top tips for getting the most out of a hospital outpatient appointment There are three stages of a hospital appointment, and each one needs careful planning. Here is a handy checklist to help you plan your appointment. Before Symptoms. Write down details of your symptoms, including when they started and what makes them better or worse Questions. Write […]
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Is COVID on the rise? Yes. COVID cases continue to increase as the new highly contagious FLiRT variants spread rapidly across the country. After nearly four months at around the lowest levels for three years, infections have risen in the UK for the fourth week in a row, driven by new variants together with waning immunity […]
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20 diseases named after people (eponyms) In this article, we will describe 20 diseases named after people (eponyms). They are in alphabetical order. 1. Addison’s disease Guy’s Hospital was apparently the place to work in the 19th century if you wanted to have a disease named after you. Thomas Addison, a colleague of Bright and […]
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Introduction to mental illness Mental illnesses are health conditions involving changes in emotion, thinking, behaviour, or personality (or combination of these). Mental illnesses are associated with distress and/or problems functioning in social, work or family activities. How common is mental illness? If you need mental health care, first of all, you are in good company. Mental health problems are very, very […]
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What is the NHS friends and family test? The NHS Friends and Family Test (FFT) enables people who use (or work in) NHS services to provide feedback on their experience of the care. Listening to the views of patients and staff helps identify what is working well, what can be improved and how. It asks for feedback on […]
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Winnie Harlow and her vitiligo Canadian fashion model Winnie Harlow has appeared on two Vogue covers, her skin condition completely undisguised. Vitiligo is an autoimmune skin condition that causes depigmented patches of skin to appear randomly on the body. It happens when the cells responsible for giving your skin its natural colour, melanocytes, are attacked […]
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A typical day in the NHS (and how much it costs) The NHS is big, really big. “Space [or the NHS!] is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist, but that’s just peanuts […]
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7 ways to reduce risk of falls How common are falls and why do falls matter? Falls are a common, but often overlooked, cause of injury. Around 1 in 3 adults over 65 years, and 50% of people over 80 years will have at least one fall a year. In terms of why they matter, […]
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Taking my child to A+E with a mental health crisis – what to expect Attending A+E can be a distressing experience, especially if you are a young person suffering from a mental health crisis. A mental health crisis can include suicidal thoughts, self-harm, severe anxiety, delusional beliefs or a difficulty coping with your mental health at home. Here is a typical timeline of […]
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What do ‘sick day rules’ mean? If frail elderly patients (including those with CKD) become sick and dehydrated (usually secondary to an infection, e.g. urine, chest or gastrointestinal), they should be advised to withhold the 7 groups of medications below. This is because these drugs can precipitate AKI during such illnesses. And if they can be […]
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