Over-the-counter prescriptions, Virtual reality in rehabilitation, Sore throats and antibiotics
Inside Health
BBC
4.4 • 575 Ratings
🗓️ 7 February 2017
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Prescriptions for over-the-counter items cost the NHS millions each year; in 2015 paracetamol prescriptions alone cost £87.6 million. Mark talks to Paula Cowen, medical director at Wirral CCG, one of a growing number of Clinical Commissioning Groups that are asking GPs to restrict prescribing of these items, and to Andrew Green, a GP and the prescribing policy lead at the BMA, who has reservations.
Virtual Reality is being harnessed to help people recover from serious brain injury following accidents or strokes, and in conditions like Parkinson's disease and dementia. Mark visits a clinic in Salford where they're using virtual reality in neuro-rehabilitation.
And treating sore throats with antibiotics. Sore throats are common accounting for 1.2 million GP consultations every year in England alone - and they affect many millions more who don't see their doctor. Most are viral and self-limiting, but around 1 in 10 are caused by a bacteria and may benefit from antibiotics. The tricky bit is telling the difference between the two but a new pharmacy-based test and treat initiative may help. Mark speaks to Peter Wilson, one of the authors of the pilot study, and Margaret McCartney is on hand to examine the evidence.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, I'm Greg Jenna and good news, Your Dead to Me is back for a new series. Here we go. Yes, we'll explore Emperor Nero's notorious reign with Professor Marybeard and Patton Oswald. I would not want my daughter having the remote control, not alone an empire. We'll dissect the decadent life of Philippe Duke-Dor-Leon with Tom Allen. I've often tried to pretend I'm an aristocrat and being very quickly knocked down. |
| 0:23.0 | And there'll be so much more with comedians like Olga Koch, Mike Mosniak and Ria Elena. |
| 0:26.9 | I'm excited. |
| 0:27.6 | You're dead to me, the comedy podcast that takes history seriously. |
| 0:30.9 | Listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:33.3 | This is the BBC. |
| 0:36.8 | Hello, thank you for listening to this edition of Inside Health. |
| 0:39.7 | I hope you enjoy it. |
| 0:41.0 | Coming up today, treating sore throats. |
| 0:43.8 | We take a closer look at the new pharmacy-based initiative |
| 0:46.9 | that helps separate people who need antibiotics from the vast majority who do not. |
| 0:52.5 | But is it going to help or hinder the management of sore throats? |
| 0:56.2 | And virtual reality gaming, |
| 0:58.4 | the latest development in neuro-rehabilitation |
| 1:00.9 | for conditions ranging from stroke to dementia. |
| 1:03.7 | I try out a new state-of-the-art machine being used to treat patients on the NHS, |
| 1:08.8 | and it's harder work than it sounds. |
| 1:11.5 | Bird trying to crash into me. Right, okay. It's an odd feeling because you feel a little |
| 1:16.3 | bit unstable, so the platform's just tilted down now. You're walking at the same time, |
| 1:20.4 | you're focusing on this, and here comes another of those damn birds. More on that new Karen |
| 1:25.3 | virtual reality system and the neuroscience behind its use later. |
| 1:29.9 | But first a question from an inside health listener that may have implications for us all, if not now, then soon. |
... |
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