Local News

A clinical trial using cholesterol-lowering treatment Simvastatin in people living with Parkinson’s is getting underway in centres across the country – with the hope that it could become one of a number of effective treatments available to treat Parkinson’s.

Spearheaded by Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry, the double-blinded placebo controlled study will involve 198 people with Parkinson’s. The trial is seeking people who have been living with Parkinson’s and who are not already taking a statin. It will take place in 21 centres in the UK including...

Ben Bradshaw, MP for Exeter, visited an optical practice in his constituency on Friday 4th December to find out why regular eye tests are so important in preventing blindness.

The Labour MP for Exeter was joined by Nicki Pullen from Pullen and Symes Opticians and Jonathan Drew from Devon Local Optical Committee to see for himself the work carried out at the practice and found out what community eye care can be delivered in opticians beyond regular sight testing which delivers ‘care close to home’ and is easily accessed by local people.

Jonathan Drew, Business Manager of the...

Devon County Council is set to accept the Government ‘s offer to increase council tax by two per cent to help pay for adult social care.

The increase would raise just under £6.5 million extra this year.

That would help pay for the Government’s increase in the minimum wage which will cost the county council over £7 million more in care costs.

The two per cent council tax increase will be on top of any rise in the rate for general services which will be decided at the annual budget meeting next month.

The Government has set a ceiling of 1.99 per cent for...

People have evolved to have subconscious urges to over-eat, and limited ability to avoid becoming obese, especially in winter, a University of Exeter study has found.

There is not yet an evolutionary mechanism to help us overcome the lure of sweet, fatty and unhealthy food and avoid becoming overweight for understandable and sensible reasons, according to researchers.

This is because in our past being overweight has not posed a significant threat to survival compared to the dangers of being underweight. The urge to maintain body fat is even stronger in winter when food in...