Health & Beauty

A group of South West-based researchers have shown that early improvements in asthma symptoms can help predict how effective treatment will be in the future.

Experts at the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, the University of Plymouth, and the University of Exeter used national data to find out if it’s possible to predict how people with severe asthma will respond to medication.

Asthma affects 350 million people worldwide, and an estimated 3–10% of those diagnosed have severe asthma. People with severe asthma often face much tougher symptoms and...

If you’ve undergone a medical procedure and it hasn’t quite gone to plan, then it’s easy (and natural) to feel shaken up about it. You’ve entrusted your body into the care of professionals, and that trust has been tarnished.

What matters is that you have a means to repair the damage, where possible, and that you’re able to seek the justice you deserve. But how do you do these things? Let’s take a look at how to get back on track after having suffered medical negligence.

One aspect of medical negligence that’s often...

NHS Devon has issued a ‘last call’ for at-risk patients eligible for the spring 2025 Covid-19 vaccine.

The spring booster campaign ends on June 17, and patients who meet the criteria are being urged to book before it’s too late.

Covid-19 is more serious in older people and those with certain underlying health conditions. For these reasons, the vaccine is being offered to people:

• Aged 75 years and over
• In care homes
• Aged six months and over with a weakened immune system.

Devon GP Dr Alex Degan, who is also Primary Care...

New research to be presented at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2025) in Malaga, Spain, reveals a striking 50% increase in the proportion of adolescents living with overweight or obesity in England over the past 15 years. The studies, led by Dr. Dinesh Giri of Bristol Royal Hospital for Children and Dr. Senthil Senniappan of Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, show that the prevalence rose from 22% in 2008-2010 to 33% in 2021-2023.

The research utilised linked primary and secondary healthcare data, specifically the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) and Hospital Episode...