Health & Beauty

South West patients with long-term health conditions are getting to see health experts when they need to, in an exciting project driven by research.

Under the existing model of care, patients with conditions such as arthritis are given routine appointments that often take place when their symptoms are mild. Yet when their condition deteriorates it can be difficult to secure an urgent appointment.

Now, a new approach known as Patient Initiated Clinics is hoping to transform the delivery of care across the South West by putting patients in control. Instead of appointments...

Research published today in The Lancet has shown between 1990-2013 life expectancy in England increased by 5.4 years due to a fall in death rates from cardiovascular disease, stroke and other chronic diseases.

The study ranked diseases and risk factors that cause death and disability in England compared with other high income countries, and found England as a whole performed better on average than other affluent countries in the European Union, and Australia, Canada, Norway, and the USA (EU15+).

However the findings also showed health disparities between English regions,...

Research published in the British Dental Journal shows that Brush DJ, an app designed to encourage youngsters to adopt and maintain an effective oral health care routine using evidence-based techniques, is effective in its aims.

Brush DJ was launched on the Apple App Store at the end of 2011 and in 2013 it was accepted into the NHS Choices Health Apps Library. By February 2015 Brush DJ, which is free with no advertisements or in-app purchases, had been downloaded on more than 197,000 devices in 188 countries. It can be used with any type of toothbrush.

The app plays music...

More than seven in ten people from the South West (77 per cent) are not doing the amount of average weekly exercise recommended by NHS guidelines, despite evidence that taking part in regular exercise can reduce a person’s risk of developing dementia, according to a survey carried out by Alzheimer’s Society to mark the start of Memory Walks on Saturday.

Taking regular physical exercise is proven to be one of the best things that can be done to reduce the risk of getting dementia, yet over half of those surveyed from the South West (56%) didn’t know that regular exercise and...