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As part of the NHS myself, I can’t stress enough the importance of staying home so that we can reduce the spread of Covid -19 save lives and protect our NHS. The latest government advice is as follows (03.04.20) Stay at home *Only go outside for food, health reasons or work (but only if you…

Vitamins and minerals are essential nutrients that help your body function and keep you healthy, so as a gastroenterologist I recognise their importance. They assist with digestion, maintain your metabolism, help your bones and so much more. The NHS advises that “most people do not need to take vitamin supplements and can get all the…

We are inundated with advice on eating healthy, watching what we drink and exercising regularly, and yes although these are all aspects that contribute to good digestive health, there are some other factors that should also be given some consideration! In this blog entry we take a look at those factors that haven’t quite been…

Heavy drinking has been on the rise for years and as we enter the festive period it’s one of the most popular times of the year where people drink too much. A few too many to you, might just resonate with yourself as a niggling hangover that lasts a day or two, but as a…

Probiotics and their benefits – what are probiotics all about? At some point you’ve probably heard the term “probiotics”, whether this has been on a TV advert trying to sell probiotic supplements or on the supermarket shelves claiming the product includes probiotic ingredients. In spite of this, there is a still a huge lack of…

I saw a man of 28 as a new patient this week, born in France. I saw a man of 28 as a new patient this week, born in France. Episodic severe right upper quadrant pain. The more I listened to him, the more it was clear that it was very episodic (3-4 per year)…

At last – a lead article on the front page of an influential national broadsheet newspaper, denouncing the government’s record on reducing liver disease deaths and advocating the immediate introduction of Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) for alcoholic drinks. The Lancet Commission on Liver Disease in the UK, in conjunction with many other institutions and charities…

In NHS hospitals, the phrase ‘Senior Decision Making’ is now much used when talking about how good decisions are made for patients so that they get the best and most timely care. This particularly applies in the Emergency Department, where the time taken for a patient to meet a ‘Senior Decision Maker’ (be it doctor,…

Funerals are obviously sad occasions, but the reflection that they bring can temper that sadness with a realisation of many good things that are around. This was clearly demonstrated this week when I attended the funeral of a Charge Nurse with whom I had worked for over 30 years and who died far too young.…

I was reminded at the recent meeting of the British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, how good multiprofessional working can be. Although I am conscious that it is my own area of interest, I believe that the Nutrition Support Team (as invented at St Marks Hospital in the late 1970’s) was the first truly…