PEOPLE in the South West suffering from high blood pressure are being given the chance to take part in a major clinical research trial which could herald a ‘new era’ in the treatment of the life-threatening condition.

The ‘WAVE IV’ trial at the Royal Devon and Exeter Foundation Trust is testing a new one-hour, one-off non-invasive treatment which aims to reduce blood pressure permanently, cutting the patient’s risk of stroke and heart attacks and eliminating the need for on-going medication.

Principal investigator for the study, Dr Andrew Sharp, Consultant Cardiologist and...

Retiring Consultant, Tim Harlow, gives thanks to the local community and urges their continued support for the future

Tim Harlow has been a Doctor and Consultant at Hospiscare for 14 years and retires in September. As he reflects on his time at the charity he wants to say thank you to the many people in the community who have supported his work.

Tim says of his time at Hospiscare “Sometimes the word ‘privilege’ is overused, but here it is absolutely correct. It really has been, and still is, a privilege to do this work – to help people as they face this sternest of tests....

The Venus Company is delighted to announce Barry George as the new executive chef for their two cafés at Blackpool Sands and The Shops at Dartington. Barry, who has over 23 years’ catering experience, joins The Venus Company from the Hive Beach Café in Dorset.

From Friday 1st July, Barry will be implementing exciting new changes to The Venus Café at Blackpool Sands’ evening dining offering.

On his appointment, Barry says: “I am thrilled to be joining The Venus Company. I have always admired their passion for sourcing outstanding, local, sustainable produce and am really...

Site managers working for local housebuilder Barratt Developments, which includes Barratt Homes and David Wilson Homes, have scooped two prestigious awards in a national competition to find the best-run building sites in Britain.

Bob Maund who works for Barratt Homes in Fremington and Jason Dugdale who works on site for David Wilson Homes in Exeter gained official recognition for the excellence of which they run their developments with a Pride in the Job Quality Award.

In Fremington, Bob is overseeing work at Riverside Park, a development of two, three and four bedroom...

Torrance Diamond Diagnostic Services (TDDS), a leading veterinary clinical pathology firm have commissioned their own bespoke new ‘grow-on’ building at the Exeter Science Park.

Andy Torrance, a clinical pathologist and co-founder of TDDS, has been watching the progress of the Science Park from his base at the Innovation Centre, knowing that TDDS would eventually make the move.

Andy said: “We have been based at the University of Exeter’s Innovation Centre since we launched. It has been a fantastic facility for us, and we have taken up more office and lab space as and when we...

Researchers from the University of Exeter have pioneered an innovative new technique to make flexible screens more effective and efficient.

A team of Engineers and Physicists from Exeter have discovered that GraphExeter – a material adapted from the ‘wonder material’ graphene - can substantially improve the effectiveness of large, flat, flexible lighting.

By using GraphExeter, the most transparent, lightweight and flexible material for conducting electricity, instead of pure graphene, the team have increased the brightness of flexible lights by up to almost 50 per cent....

Leading local advice charity, Citizens Advice Exeter, today publishes its advice trend statistics for the period 1 April – 31 May 2016.

The charity has helped 38% more people with their advice and information when compared to the same period in 2015.

The advice trends over the period were as follows:

Welfare benefits

Overall, the charity dealt with 47.8% more welfare benefit enquiries. The main increases being:

• 60.9% about employment and support allowance • 44.2% about tax credits • 42.5% about disability benefits (PIP/DLA) • 32.9% about housing...