An article in February this year in The Sunday Times highlighted the dramatic increase in the use of opioids, with addiction rates – including overdoses and deaths – surging in line with a huge rise in the number of painkillers…
Body image is focus for Mental Health Awareness Week
Mental Health Awareness Week (Sunday 11th – 18th May) centres on body image, having focused in previous years on areas including loneliness, sleep and stress. CEO for the Mental Health Foundation, which organises the annual campaign week, Mark Rowland, wrote…
Obesity increases risk of disease and early death ‘significantly’, says new research
The impact on health of being overweight has been highlighted in a major new study, with Public Health England calling for ‘sustained action’ to tackle obesity going forward. The research, which will be presented at the European Congress on Obesity…
75 College of Medicine bursaries: Apply now!
The College of Medicine is delighted to offer medical students, junior doctors, GPs and GPs in training the opportunity to apply for a bursary to upcoming College events including one of our 2019 two-day Foundation Courses on Integrated Medicine in…
Know a social prescribing champion? Enter our awards!
The Social Prescribing Awards are a new initiative from the Social Prescribing Network, the College of Medicine and the University of Westminster, and are organised by Chamberlain Dunn. The winners will be celebrated during the International Social Prescribing Network Conference…
UK’s top supermarkets ‘misleading shoppers’ on healthy food, investigation finds
The UK’s leading supermarkets – including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons – are marketing some products as ‘healthy choices’ to shoppers when they’re laden with bad fats, sugar and salt, a new investigation has claimed. BBC Radio 5 Live sent researchers…
‘It’s social prescription at its best’: College of Medicine joins Duchess of Cornwall at Lambeth Food Co-op
WATCH VIDEO: The College of Medicine’s Chair Dr Michael Dixon has praised a community-led food co-operative in Lambeth, calling the project ‘social prescription at its very beginning and very best’. Dr Dixon joined HRH Duchess of Cornwall in the London…
College of Medicine welcomes NHS link workers plan
An army of advisers will be recruited to help patients live fitter, healthier lives and combat anxiety, loneliness and depression under plans to ramp up social prescribing set to be launched by NHS England this week. Around half of GP…
Could exercise reverse dementia? Study finds activity hormone may protect brain
Cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer’s could be helped by a hormone that is naturally released during exercise, according to a study in Brazil and the US. Scientists researched the effects of irisin, a protein emitted by the body during…
Superfood spirulina could help reduce blood pressure, says new research
Blood pressure could be lowered by a form of algae, according to a new study. Superfood spirulina (arthrospira platensis), technically a bacteria, was found to contain a protein that helps arteries to ‘relax’ by researchers at the Mediterranean Neurological Institute…
Type 2 diabetes leads to mental decline in middle-age, new research says
Patients with diabetes Type 2 are more likely to have increased mental decline during later life, new research says. The new study, carried out by the University of Tasmania, found that memory and verbal fluency declined significantly in elderly people with…
Life expectancy disparity: Poor people living in England are likely to die around ten years before rich
People growing up in poverty in England have a life expectancy of ten years less than their richer peers. A new study says the gap between rich and poor is getting wider when it comes to life span. And children…
The arts are an ‘indispensable tool’ in helping the NHS, Matt Hancock tells The King’s Fund
The Health and Social Care Secretary said the NHS should look to ‘social cures’ including music, dance and reading to reduce pressure on the health service. Speaking at The King’s Fund in London, Conservative minister Matt Hancock told the audience…
Health Secretary unveils bespoke health advice to extend life by five years by 2035
Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock has unveiled a new government healthcare strategy that hopes to extend life expectancy in the UK by five years. The Conservative plans, which will use personal data and will be officially unveiled in…
Doctors should take cookery lessons to offer patients better advice on nutrition
GPs should consider taking cookery courses so they’re better placed to advise patients on healthy eating, which in turn could reduce the country’s Type 2 diabetes rate. Britain’s obesity problem is currently the worst in Europe, with around two thirds…
College of Medicine welcomes Theresa May’s new policy on social prescribing to combat loneliness
The College of Medicine has welcomed the news that social prescribing will be offered within primary care by 2023. The Prime Minister announced on October 15th that GPs in England will be able to prescribe activities including dance, cookery and…
Scientists link common painkiller to increased risk of heart problems
A popular painkiller has been linked to an increased risk of heart attacks and stroke, according to a new study published in the BMJ. Researchers at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark found that the commonly-used painkiller diclofenac was associated with an…
Social prescribing should become ‘normal practice’ for GPs, says Health Secretary
The new Health Secretary has backed plans to dramatically increase social prescription on the NHS, saying GPs and healthcare professionals should advise patients that playing sport and being sociable are key to their health. Matt Hancock said growing evidence suggested…
Hard-to-spot ‘micro-organs’ hold key to how the body ‘remembers’ returning infections
Scientists believe they’ve come a step closer to understanding how the body ‘remembers’ to fight illnesses. Researchers at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, Australia, say they’ve discovered ‘micro-organs’, tiny banks of cells that act as a central…
Two thirds of GPs think engaging with the arts can help to prevent ill health
A survey of GPs has revealed that nearly two thirds of them think that the arts can make a significant contribution towards preventing ill health among the public. More than 1,000 general practitioners were questioned in the research for AESOP…
Middle-age misery: report finds ‘sandwich generation’ is the least happy
The pressures of looking after growing children…and caring for ageing parents is making middle-aged people miserable, according to new research. A survey into the happiness of the nation found that the ‘sandwich generation’, aged between 45 and 59, who still…
Doctors and ‘bedside robots’ will work side-by-side in NHS Artificial Intelligence revolution
The rise of technology within healthcare could save the NHS £12.5bn a year, according to a new report which predicts an Artificial Intelligence revolution. Embracing ‘full automation’ could see tasks normally performed by GPs, surgeons, nurses and administration staff assigned…
GPs trained in complementary medicine less likely to prescribe antibiotics
GPs who are trained in complementary medicine including homeopathy prescribe less antibiotics than GPs without integrative medicine (IM) training, according to new research. UK, German and Dutch researchers, led by the University of Bristol, used prescribing data from 7,274 GP…
Not exposing infants to germs could increase risk of developing leukaemia, says leading professor
Young children who have not been exposed to microbes during their earliest years could be at an increased risk of leukaemia, according to a leading British scientist. Professor Mel Greaves, of the Institute of Cancer Research, revealed that acute lymphoblastic leukaemia,…
Study finds dementia risk linked to use of anticholinergics
An extensive new study has found links between dementia and people who use anticholinergics over a long period of time. Researchers at the University of East Anglia made the associations after studying the medical records of more than 40,000 patients…
