I'm an award-winning health and medical journalist writing for national UK media. My niche is explaining complex medical conditions in plain English quoting top experts, as well as interviewing patient case studies and leading researchers. I simplify science and tell compelling human stories.
Expert ways to relieve the pain of dodgy hips
Chronic hip pain affects an estimated 3.2 million people in the UK, and the older you are the more likely you are to suffer from it.
The hip joints are ball and socket joints and they have big jobs to do – as major load bearers, as protectors of stability, and as major players in transmitting force from the trunk to the legs while standing, walking, and running.
“My message to anyone struggling with hip pain is this: don’t wait, and don’t accept it as inevitable,” says chartered physiotherapi...
Why thousands of healthy women are secret SNORERS, risking heart attacks, strokes and worse. Helen disturbed her whole family - until a brilliantly simple instant cure changed her life
Haunting 'countdown' that wealthy acupuncturist kept before allegedly murdering her children - and her disturbing obsession laid bare, as school friends speak o...
Alleged JPMorgan sex slave doubles down with new claims in bombshell lawsuit as he adds allegations of PTSD, a wild threesome offer and friend who heard him beg...
I took an identical grocery list to Costco, Walmart and Target. The price difference for everyday items will shock you... but here's why I don't think the cheap...
My hu...
Lower your blood pressure: 10 easy, natural ways
High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, affects 60% of people aged over 60 in the UK. And it becomes even more common as you get older, affecting 66% of men over 75 and 77% of women.
Reducing your blood pressure can have striking effects. If you manage to cut your systolic blood pressure (the top number) by 2 milligrams of mercury (mmHg), you reduce your cardiovascular disease risk by 9% and stroke risk by 15%. A 10mmHg reduction in blood pressure cuts the risk of cardiovascular even...
Social media ban for kids: can it work in reality?
Following the recent banning for under- 16s in Australia, other nations, including the UK, are considering their options – but is the genie already out of the bottle? Journalist Jo Waters reports.
A clampdown on social media, banning it for children under a certain age, is one of the options out for consultation by the UK government. This is all very recent and fast-moving, with the consultation announced at the end of January (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and Depa...
Do you know your risk of glaucoma?
Glaucoma cases in the UK are predicted to rise by 60% to 1.6 million by 2060, according to new research published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.
It’s a complex eye disease that becomes more common as we age – glaucoma is six times more common in the over-60s.
Glaucoma explained
What is glaucoma and what causes it?
“Glaucoma is a common eye condition that damages the optic nerve – which connects the eye to the brain – causing irreversible loss of vision if untreated,” explains Alex D...
Easy ways to eat more fibre – and why it’s so important for your health
Until recently, fibre was very much the forgotten nutrient. While people get concerned about their protein levels, very rarely do you hear them worrying about their fibre intake. However, multiple surveys have shown that we don’t get enough fibre in our daily diets in the UK.
The National Diet and Nutrition Survey 2019 to 2023 found that only 4% of those polled were getting the 30g a day recommended. Older people in the 65-to-74 age group had an intake of 16.9g a day – just over half of what ...
9 lifestyle changes that may cut your risk of Parkinson’s
Parkinson’s is the world’s fastest-growing neurodegenerative condition, with cases predicted to double by 2050, according to one global study.
There are currently 166,000 people in the UK estimated to be living with Parkinsons according to the charity Parkinson’s UK, a number that is predicted to rise to 173,000 by 2030.
What is Parkinson’s?
The condition means the brain can’t make enough dopamine – a chemical needed in movement – and causes around 40 symptoms including tremor, muscle stiffne...
I was so itchy at night it felt like something was in my veins and I scratched until I bled: Terrifying signs that 'crawling' sensation is actually first stage of ORGAN failure
The sudden need to itch her palms and soles of her feet that hit Jayne Pilkington one night was so maddening she scratched them until they bled.
‘It felt like something was crawling deep in my veins beneath my skin,’ recalls Jayne, 46.
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Pneumonia: what are the symptoms and when should you seek medical treatment?
An inflammation of the lungs that’s usually caused by an infection, severe pneumonia kills 25,000 people a year in the UK. Milder types, such as the so-called “walking pneumonia”, however, can sometimes go undiagnosed.
For most healthy people, a bout of pneumonia is no more than a nasty chest infection that passes in a couple of weeks or so, sometimes needing antibiotics if it’s caused by a bacterial infection.
“The less severe your symptoms are then the less likely you are to be diagnosed wi...
When should you worry about a persistent cough?
Whether coughs are tickly, hacking, dry, or chesty ones that bring up phlegm, they can have a big impact – disrupting sleep at night, causing social embarrassment, exacerbating incontinence and spreading infection. But when do they become something to worry about?
Persistent coughs lasting more than eight weeks affect an estimated five to 10 per cent of the UK’s adult population, according to some estimates.
“Coughs are one of the most common medical complaints that patients see a doctor for,...
Everything you need to know about statins
Cholesterol-lowering statins don’t cause the vast majority of possible side effects listed in pill package leaflets after all, according to a landmark new study.
The findings compared side effects reported in people who took statins with those who took a placebo (dummy pills) in 19 large randomised controlled trials and found only four out of 66 possible adverse effects had higher rates in patients who took statins.
The team led by Oxford Population Health found that for the vast majority of ...
I tried the new hearing glasses and here's what happened
As a lecturer at a university, my husband admits he sometimes struggles to hear his students at the back of the class, but like me he doesn’t want to wear a hearing aid for fear of being labelled “past it”, so he walks around the room when he doesn’t quite catch the question the first time.
He’s blaming ear wax and paying £70 every six months to get them irrigated – as no syringing is available on the NHS locally. If your family is shocked at how loud you turn the TV up and exasperated by you...
Why every story counts when it comes to living with advanced breast cancer
Moments That Count is a disease awareness campaign initiated, created, developed and fully funded by Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK Ltd. This article was created and funded by Novartis.
Patients living with incurable advanced breast cancer are the focus of a campaign to bust myths about what it’s like to live with a terminal diagnosis of the disease.
Just over one in five people diagnosed with breast cancer will experience a recurrence of it¹, and around 61,000 people in the UK – mostly women – ...