Inside Health

Every week we’re heading to Southampton General Hospital, where we’ve heard a lot about the doctors and nurses doing amazing work. But this week Erika Wright has been talking to Gemma Blanchett who does a job you might not even associate with the virus or with intensive care – and that’s physiotherapy. Gemma is a respiratory physiotherapist who has the joy of watching some recover with her extraordinary help.Recovery is going to be a long haul for some and can even take time for those who’ve had the virus with mild symptoms at home. So what do we know about how long a complete recovery takes? James Gill GP and Honorary Clinical Lecturer at Warwick Medical School discusses the latest insights.For people who have already found themselves worrying excessively about their health or who have an obsessive compulsive disorder related to hand washing, this is a particularly difficult time. With all of us now on the look-out for symptoms, Claudia Hammond speaks to Jo Daniels, a Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology

A range of potential treatments have been suggested for Covid-19 but nobody knows if any of them will turn out to be more effective in helping people recover than the usual standard hospital care which all patients will receive. Inside Health regular Dr Margaret McCartney talks to Claudia about how the first randomised trials are now setting out to test some of these suggested treatments with unprecedented speed and adaptability as potential new drug candidates emerge.During lockdown some find their mental health is put at higher risk. Katie Connebear is a mental health campaigner and blogger who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder eight years ago. She has experienced psychotic episodes and has coping strategies in place for when she feels her mental health deteriorating. She offers her thoughts on how to make small progressive steps in the absence of family and friends who she normally relies on when times are difficult.We’ve the latest in Inside Health’s regular visits to test the temperature at Southampto

Claudia Hammond reports on Covid-19 and "moral injury" - when the virus peaks, some healthcare staff will find themselves in a situation never faced before, forced to make decisions they would never normally have to make. This puts them at risk of a so-called “moral injury” which might harm their mental health. It’s more often associated with life in the armed services and Neil Greenberg, Professor of Defence Mental Health at Kings College London, explains how he's applying lessons from research in the military to support staff starting work at the new Nightingale Hospital in London. And some of the million recipients of letters saying they should shield themselves by not going out at all for 12 weeks are people who have asthma. Margaret McCartney examines the evidence for how those with asthma receiving letters were selected. Plus the latest dispatch from University Hospital Southampton: consultant Chris Hill explains that the emergency department has been split into Red and Blue areas based on the probabi

When hospitals are full of patients, they're said to be "hot". The coronavirus crisis will push up the temperature of hospitals across the UK and in the first in a special series of weekly dispatches from the medical front line, producer Erika Wright will be taking the temperature of University Hospital Southampton - or The General - in Hampshire (which services almost two million people in the south of England) as they cope with the influx of Covid-19 patients. In this first dispatch, Erika talks to the Divisional Director for Medicine, Dr Trevor Smith, who says as patients have been moved out of this large teaching hospital to make space for coronavirus patients, the hospital's current temperature reading is "cold", but all staff know that this will soon change.This virus is deeply frightening for everybody, but often for older people and those with underlying health conditions it is even worse. The fear is that if hospitals are overflowing, then crude cut-offs by, for example, age, might determine who doe

Margaret McCartney on COVID-19 and how the military has been deployed to get protective equipment supplies to critical care staff. Dean of the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine, Dr Alison Pittard tells of the difficult ethical decisions staff are facing. And Professor Carl Heneghan - suffering from COVID-19 symptoms himself - explains the importance of fast action when treating secondary pneumonia in the elderly; while Deirdre Hollingsworth explains the term "Viral Load". Plus Margaret McCartney visits the famous Belford Hospital in Fort William - specialising in hostile environment trauma - and hears a story of intense mountain rescue.

The UK has one of the lowest numbers of critical care beds in Europe but as the coronavirus threatens to engulf us, drastic measures are being taken to increase capacity. Dean of the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine, Dr Alison Pittard, tells Saleyha that the NHS has been asked to plan for doubling, trebling and then quadrupling the number of critical care beds. So far, health authorities in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have identified how they can increase the number of beds from just under 5,000 to around 10,000 but as Nicki Credland, Chair of the British Association of Critical Care Nurses says, increased beds mean more specialist intensive care nurses in numbers that can't be invented overnight. Additional non-specialist staff are being earmarked to help fully qualified intensive care nurses in the current virus crisis.Dr Margaret McCartney addresses the confusion around two medications: ibuprofen for viral symptoms and the potential risks to Covid-19 patients who are using ACE inhibitor

Inside Health gets exclusive access into Ysbyty Gwynedd, the Bangor emergency department, to see how they are preparing staff to deal with coronavirus patients arriving at the front door. Although advice is for patients to stay at home and call 111, some will be sick enough to need hospital admission. For that outcome, staff need to be properly fitted for face masks and trained in putting on personal protection equipment or PPE. Saleyha works in the department and Inside Health follows her getting kitted out with the help of Tim Hamilton Jones, an ED staff nurse tasked with the job of getting everyone ‘fit tested’.GP Dr Margaret McCartney talks about the evidence on face masks and the different types that are out there and gives the latest information on the incubation period for COVID19. It’s estimated that 80% of cases will be able to recover at home but 20% may need hospital care. Reports coming from Italy describe the demand on intensive care beds for patients with coronavirus because of the disease’s pot

Chris van Tulleken examines cigarette filters - the tobacco industry's hidden marketing tool. He talks to historian Robert Proctor, author of The Golden Holocaust and May van Schalkwyk explains why she wrote her paper 'No More Butts'. Plus Margaret McCartney discusses whether the media portrays a balanced view of Sepsis.

Evidence is building about the impact of air pollution on health, but the relationship between the cocktail of chemicals, gases and particles in the air we breathe and the direct effect on an individual's health is a tricky one to prove. Dr Farrah Jarral cycles to Kings College London to hear about a new study by researcher in respiratory toxicology, Dr Ian Mudway, which revealed, to the surprise of Ian and his colleagues, that particles from brake dust had the same damaging impact on our lung immune system as that familiar culprit, diesel exhaust. It's a result that demonstrates that the toxic risk to our health doesn't just come out of the exhaust pipe and suggests the concept of a zero emissions vehicle might need further work. COPD or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is an umbrella term for a range of respiratory conditions that used to be known by names like emphysema or chronic bronchitis. COPD flare ups or exacerbations are the second largest cause of emergency hospital admissions in the UK. Dr Je

Farrah Jarral on coronavirus transmission and the difference between a cough and a sneeze. Why is health research and media coverage about breakfast often contradictory? Farrah meets senior lecturer Javier Gonzalez and Professor James Betts from the Department for Health at the University of Bath. And Margaret McCartney discusses the complex issue of inequalities between men and women when diagnosing heart attacks. Plus Farrah talks to Dr Ruth Chambers, clinical lead for a project in Stoke on Trent that assesses the benefits of personal digital assistants in the home.

It's not a household name but RSV or Respiratory Syncytial Virus is responsible for 30,000 children under five ending up in hospital every year in the UK. The virus can cause serious infections of the lungs and airways (like pneumonia and bronchiolitis). Hannah and Sean from Oxfordshire had baby girls, Millie and Freya, born prematurely in October last year. Just weeks later, the twins spent 12 days in intensive care and then 3 days in the high dependency unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford with bronchiolitis caused by RSV. Andrew Pollard, Professor of Paediatric Infection and Immunity at the University of Oxford tells James, the BBC's Science and Health Correspondent, about the dangers of RSV in lower income settings where the virus claims more babies' lives under 12 months old than any other disease apart from malaria. Hopes are that a vaccine for RSV to protect children during the vulnerable first years is imminent.And as one of the world's leading experts on vaccinations (and chair of the UK's J

James Gallagher, BBC health and science correspondent, and Dr Margaret McCartney talk about the new coronavirus and how GPs have been advised to manage a patient at risk. He meets listeners Rich and Lucy who have asked about probiotics and gut health in early life after one of their twins had a vaginal delivery while the other a C-section. They want to know whether the different types of birth might impact on the good bacteria passed from mother to child. What is the evidence for the potential impact on long term health and can probiotics help? Dr Trevor Lawley at the Sanger Centre and Dr Lindsay Hall of the Quadram Institute provide the answers. Debi Bhattacharya of the University of East Anglia and James discuss pill organisers and whether arranging medicines into one single packet is always a good idea. And Prof John Pasi explains the results of trials on a 'Holy Grail' treatment for Haemophilia A and Shaun, who took part in the trial at Guy's and St Thomas in London, reveals how it has changed his life

Nigel Edwards, Chief Executive of the health think tank the Nuffield Trust, joins Dr Margaret McCartney for this special programme about the challenges of remote and rural healthcare. Margaret travels by boat from Mallaig to the Hebridean islands of Eigg, Muck, Rum and Canna off the north west coast of Scotland where, after 100 years the islanders lost their resident doctor. When it was clear there wouldn't be a replacement, the islanders and NHS Highland instead opted for a radical new healthcare model. Taking inspiration from indigenous tribes in Alaska, the NUKA model has been adapted for the Small Isles and it is very different, with a high level of community engagement. The idea is that local people own their own healthcare rather than having healthcare delivered to them, as passive recipients. Local people are trained up in first aid and become salaried Rural Health and Social Care Workers. They are the eyes and ears of healthcare professionals. Volunteers also act as First Responders coordinating heli

When is the best time of day to take blood pressure pills? A new study from Spain has hit the headlines, with dramatic results that could change practice but are the findings too good to be true? And why is getting help for ADHD or other behavioural conditions such a struggle for parents, schools and doctors? Plus recurrent fevers - a rare genetic condition that feels like flu every day. And evidence for the best way to get rid of headlice!

Antidepressants and revised guidance from NICE reflecting that, for some people, they can be difficult drugs to come off; Margaret McCartney explains why this initiative is long over due. Chemotherapy backpacks - a novel way of giving cancer therapy that allows people to stay at home, improves quality of life during treatment and takes pressure off the NHS. Plus dizziness - or vertigo - is a common problem but it can mean different things to different people and occasionally can be a sign of stroke; so what are the clues? And our insider's guide to over the counter treatment: this week anti-inflammatory gels for pain relief.

Zantac alert over concerns that the branded reflux treatment is contaminated with a carcinogenic impurity, so what are the risks? And a new device helping to identify Newborn brain injury earlier. An Inside Health Guide to Over the Counter choices and evidence for those that work best - this week Warts and Veruccas; Plus surgery for reflux as an alternative to pills.

There are plans to make high dose statins available over-the-counter without a prescription to improve uptake. Currently around two thirds of people likely to benefit most don't take them, but will these plans make a difference? Amyloidosis is a debilitating rare disease that is often missed: Pam tells her amazing story of recovery and Mark meets the specialists helping her. And news about new gene silencing treatments that could transform the outlook for people with other rare conditions too.

Mark Porter reports on shortages of Heparin, a drug to treat blood clots, due to swine fever in Chinese pigs! And staying with anticoagulants Margaret McCartney discusses concerns about taking these drugs along with common pain killers like ibuprofen. Why is this a risky combination? And Alice tells her story of opting for ovarian freezing, the latest technique to preserve fertility when undergoing cancer treatment. Plus a pioneering new type of surgery for arthritis of the thumb.

Why aren't prescription charges free across the whole of the UK? Acute Kidney Injury has shot up the NHS agenda in the last decade. Mark Porter visits Derby Royal Hospital to find out why kidney problems are so common and discovers what's been done to prevent damage to an organ many of us take for granted. Plus the World Health Organisation has removed the UK's measles free status because too few children are being immunised. Could making the vaccine mandatory be the answer? Margaret McCartney examines the evidence. And as the academic term gets underway Inside Health learns of a novel method to help with the prevention of meningitis amongst university students who are at risk of the disease.

Dr Mark Porter finds out about 'singing for lung health', an evidence based therapy for helping people with breathlessness arising from conditions like Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. He hears from the choir based at Charing Cross Hospital in London and talks to respiratory physiologist, Adam Lound, to find out how the breathing and singing techniques being taught there, as well as the camaraderie, improve people's quality of life and confidence. Does exercise increase the risk of worsening an aortic aneurysm? Consultant vascular surgeon, Rachel Bell talks about the benefits of cardio vascular exercise for people with aneurysms. Dr Margaret McCartney reviews the evidence on sunscreens. Also in the programme, Saiju Jacob discusses myasthenia gravis, an auto-immune condition that causes muscle weakening. He explains what causes it and how it's treated.