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An Update on Face Coverings and Face Masks

At the time of writing, it is compulsory to wear a face covering on public transport or when visiting a hospital either as a patient or as a visitor in England, but from 24th July, this rule will include shops and supermarkets. In Scotland, it has been mandatory to wear a face covering in shops since July 10th and failure …

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Coronavirus – should we be wearing masks?

There seems to be a lot of confusion around whether or not the general public should be using face masks and given that different countries have different advice, it is easy to see why. Current guidance here in the UK is that it is not recommended that the general public wear masks. That advice is based on the fact that …

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The Truth About Coronavirus Testing in the UK

I have received a lot of questions this week regarding testing for coronavirus, so thought it might be a good subject to tackle here. At the time of writing (Monday April 6th), the UK has done 208,837 tests for coronavirus. Of those 51,608 were positive. All of these were Antigen tests. There are two types of test for coronavirus The …

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Platinum Magazine April 2020

Website of the Month Over 11 million people in the UK have difficulty with hearing. It’s a problem I see frequently in surgery and one that can have a huge impact on a person’s quality of life, often leaving them feeling isolated and alone, so I was interested to discover www.audacious.co.uk. This website launched recently and aims to help people …

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Coronavirus – Fake News

There are  several email and Facebook posts doing the rounds, usually claiming to be from a doctor relative of a friend of a friend, which of course gives credence to the content, but most of what I have seen contains fake news, which could mean people believing they are safe and protected when they are not, so I thought, it …

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Pregnancy and coronavirus

Pregnancy is often a time of heightened anxiety. Every expectant Mum just wants to do the best for her unborn child. Today, pregnant women face an added anxiety in the form of coronavirus, so I thought I would to explain what we know so far about the virus and its effect on pregnancy. Pregnancy is a time when the immune …

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Coronavirus FAQs

Having spent the best part of 4 hours speaking to a number of different radio stations today, I am getting a real feel for the degree of confusion and anxiety that exists around coronavirus. I’m sorry I can’t answer everyone’s questions, there are simply too many, but I thought it might be useful to try to answer some of the …

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Coronavirus Guidance Made Easy

As you can imagine, my phone has been ringing off the hook recently with requests for media interviews and questions from friends and family. The coronavirus pandemic, and our knowledge of this disease, is changing literally by the hour and I know that is causing a lot of anxiety and confusion, so I thought I’d try to clarify a few …

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My New Book Live Well to 101

Life expectancy is on a steep upwards curve; but if we do live longer then we need to do everything we can to make sure that we live well to a ripe old age. This is a book about what the medical obstacles are to a healthy old age and what we can do about them. Dr Dawn offers simple, …