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TEDx Bristol

When I was asked to speak at TEDx Bristol event it was an ideal opportunity to try and get the word out about weight management and the avoidable health outcomes of poor diet such as Type II Diabetes. The TED maxim is “ideas worth sharing”. Sometimes controversial but always entertaining I felt the bar had been set high and was …

Bob Mortimer’s triple heart bypass operation – no laughing matter.

News that comedian Bob Mortimer has undergone triple heart bypass surgery yesterday will no doubt shock many of his fans. At just 56 he looks the peak of health and I should imagine had no idea his heart was under strain. Looking at the list of dates he has had to cancel shows he was planning a tough schedule of …

Could you be at risk of skin cancer? And do you know what to look for?

There are different forms of skin cancer – the most aggressive is malignant melanoma. 13,000 people will face a diagnosis of melanoma here in the UK this year and sadly many of them will not survive the disease. Over half of all melanomas develop out of the blue, which is why you should always report a new pigmented mark anywhere …

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Are you joining #Stoptober? Here are my top tips on giving up

As anyone who has successfully quit smoking knows, it can be an incredibly challenging experience, and success is often reliant on resolve and willpower, help from a variety of quitting tools and support from other people. With Stoptober just well on it’s way, there’s no better time to kick the habit. You are five times more likely to stay smoke …

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Why I’m supporting @PHE_uk and the @stoptober campaign this year

Public Health England are hoping to sign the one millionth smoker to Stoptober this year. Hopefully that could be you or someone you know. Your chances of quitting and staying quit are much greater if you do that with support and the concept of Stoptober is simple. All you have to do is search Stoptober online and register to be …

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Why I’m a fan of the @NHSChoices #Healthcheck

If you were watching my “Health Round Up” on This Morning on ITV today you may have been shocked by the statistic from the British Heart Foundation that 200 people under 65 die in the UK every week from a heart attack. They never get to enjoy their retirement. In fact a heart attack strikes someone here in Britain every …

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Worried about your cholesterol …..

Worried about your cholesterol but can’t or don’t want to take statins – check this out I was at a meeting this week with some fellow doctors discussing how we manage people with raised cholesterol levels which aren’t high enough to warrant treatment with a statin but which should ideally be lowered. We talked a lot around the merits of …