Diabetes Tech, Antidepressants, Stem Cell Therapy and knees
Inside Health
BBC
4.4 • 575 Ratings
🗓️ 27 February 2018
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
First urine testing then finger pricking and now high-tech scanning. The monitoring of glucose levels is undergoing a revolution for patients with Type 1 Diabetes. Dr Margaret McCartney reports from Glasgow on the new sensing devices which allow for endless glucose scanning without the need for multiple finger prick blood tests. She talks to parents like Ben, who's paying for a continuous glucose monitor because the fingers of his young son George, were so sore from constant finger prick testing that he couldn't even play with his lego. And to 18 year old Matthew and his mum, Barbara, about the flash glucose monitor which they say has transformed the control and management of his diabetes. Dr Kenneth Robertson, who's led NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde's Children's Diabetes Service for the past 25 years tells Margaret that the new technology is a game changer for diabetes, but urges a cautious, evidence-based roll-out of the best devices.
Many patients, as Margaret hears, are paying for the devices out of their own pockets and the charity UK Diabetes is keeping tabs on which areas of the NHS are funding flash glucose monitors after they came on NHS license four months ago. Policy Manager Nikki Joule tells Mark that they'll lobby hard on behalf of patients denied access to this life-changing technology. Meanwhile Dr Partha Kar, Associate National Clinical Director for Diabetes at NHS England urges clinical commissioning groups to review national guidance and where patients are multiple testing or at risk of the life-threatening high sugar level condition, ketoacidosis, allow access.
Enthusiastic headlines following the recent Lancet study of antidepressants claimed the drugs work, that they're better than placebo and that more should be prescribed. Inside Health's Dr Margaret McCartney takes a closer look at the large meta-analysis of over 500 clinical trials.
Every year in the UK almost 200,000 hip and knees get replaced, mainly because of osteoarthritis. But if the damaged cartilage could be repaired in younger people, would this prevent arthritis and a replacement joint later in life? Researchers have been using stem cell therapy to re-line damaged joints but it's an expensive and complex process, which up to now has involved two stages, one to harvest the stem cells and another, weeks later, to put the tissue back into the injured joint. But now a team at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital at Stanmore has developed a one stop operation. Stem cells are harvested from the pelvis and then in the same operation, put back into injured knees to "seed" new cartilage . George Bentley, emeritus Professor of Orthopaedics, orthopaedic surgeon James Donaldson and patient, Nick Brown, talk to Inside Health about this pioneering new treatment.
Producer: Fiona Hill.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, and I'm Ed Gamble, host of another BBC podcast, |
| 0:05.4 | The Traitors Uncloaked. But my show is available only on BBC Sounds, just like Ellis and John's |
| 0:10.6 | Saturday bonus episodes, the Pop Top Ten podcast with Scott Mills and Ryland, and comedy specials |
| 0:16.2 | from the likes of Harriet Kemsley, Susie Ruffel and Rommas Shranger Nathan. However, and maybe I'm biased, it's really all about the traitors uncloked. |
| 0:24.3 | So for a whole bunch of exclusive scoops and podcasts, listen only on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:29.6 | This is the BBC. |
| 0:32.9 | Hello, thank you for listening to this edition of Inside Health. |
| 0:35.8 | I hope you enjoy it. |
| 0:37.1 | Coming up in the next half hour, antidepressants. Margaret McCartney takes a closer look at the research behind recent headlines, exstalling their virtues, and stem cell therapy to repair cartilage. I visit a centre harnessing the healing power of nature to help people with damaged knees. But first, diabetes, |
| 0:57.5 | and new figures showing that the number of people with the two main forms of the condition in |
| 1:01.7 | the UK has doubled in the last 20 years to nearly 4 million. And while 9 out of 10 cases are the |
| 1:07.9 | type 2 variety most commonly associated with being overweight and older, |
| 1:12.8 | there's also been a worrying increase in the insulin-dependent type 1 variety too. |
| 1:18.1 | Indeed, the UK now has one of the highest rates of type 1 diabetes in the world, |
| 1:23.4 | and it seems to be developing earlier with more young children being affected. |
| 1:28.7 | Managing type 1 diabetes requires careful monitoring of blood glucose levels |
| 1:33.3 | and constant adjustments of insulin and or carbohydrate intake |
| 1:36.7 | to try and keep levels in the healthy range. |
| 1:39.7 | Too high and it can make you very unwell |
| 1:42.1 | and increase the risk of long-term complications |
| 1:44.7 | like blindness and kidney disease. Too low and it can lead to coma, seizures and even death. |
| 1:51.8 | So checking sugar levels using finger-prick blood tests, often through the day and night, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

