Inside Health

Dr Mark Porter reports on NHS Health Checks which are available to everyone between 40 and 74. Public Health England's Professor Kevin Fenton says this could save at least 650 lives, prevent 1600 heart attacks and 4000 cases of diabetes. Inside Health's resident sceptic Dr Margaret McCartney isn't convinced.We examine the truth behind rumours of a blood service sell off.Inside Health visits Addenbrooke's Hospital to answer a listener's query about Crohn's disease.Diabetes in pregnancy is a growing problem with potentially serious consequences for both the mother and baby. Mark meets a team which has developed an app to help women manage their diabetes.

Tailor made artificial hips - why we should learn more from failed joint replacements. The headache that really can be blinding and can cost you your vision unless treated promptly. Plus - why Elton John is waiting two weeks for his appendix operation that has caused him to cancel his European tour.

Prostate cancer and Sir Michael Parkinson's comments this week that the test 'is if you can pee against the wall from 2 foot' - Inside Health brings you the verdict. And stiff painful joints are usually associated with getting old, but imagine being told your toddler has arthritis - Mark Porter investigates. And why the change in doctors' dress code may be doing more for Private Medicine than infection control.

Should private clinics be offering out dated injections for hay fever? Cheese Molars - why do up to 1 in 7 British children have soft yellow teeth? And generics versus branded medicines - why pay more for the same thing?

Dr Mark Porter goes on a weekly quest to demystify the health issues that perplex us.

Dr Mark Porter goes on a weekly quest to demystify the health issues that perplex us.

As High Intensity Exercise regimes hit the news headlines, Inside Health sceptic Dr Margaret McCartney reviews the evidence for short sharp workouts.With new legislation restricting the use of teeth whitening products, Dr MArk Porter examines the science behind a brighter smile.And misconceptions around so called 'Voice Lifts'. They are not designed to cosmetically rejuvenate the ageing voice, but to help people with real conditions that cause paralysis of the vocal chords.Plus an update on the measles outbreak in Swansea.

What's the story behind the headlines about the links between red meat and heart disease? Researchers have reported that the way meat eaters' gut bacteria process a substance in red meat, carnitine, could be the trigger for heart disease. As the numbers of measles cases in Swansea rise, where else might be at risk of an outbreak and as the age of vaccination in Swansea has been lowered to 6 months, why do we vaccinate babies and young children when we do? Around a million people in the UK every year have some form of head injury. Most make a full recovery but there is growing concern that doctors are missing a common complication of head injury. Dr Mark Porter investigates a condition called post traumatic hypopituitarism - the result of a damaged pituitary gland- a small vulnerable structure which sits at the base of the brain. It regulates the actions of hormones controlling everything from immunity and the thyroid gland, to normal growth, sex drive and fertility.

Dr Mark Porter reports on NHS 111 - the new 24 hour urgent care number designed for the public to access urgent medical care. It was meant to go live across the whole of England this week but has been plagued by problems.And Inside Health's resident sceptic Margaret McCartney turns her beady eye to the latest fashion in the diet industry - fasting and so called 2 day diets. Popular - but what about the evidence?And obesity and cancer - there's growing understanding that being overweight is an important risk factor for a number of common cancers, but the relationship is never realy explained - Mark Porter turns his attention to one of the factors that might explain the link.

As part of NHS reforms doctors will be holding the purse strings from April 1st. In a special edition of the programme Dr Mark Porter finds out what the changes actually mean in practice. He meets GPs who have already been piloting some of the ways in which health services are commissioned to find out what they will mean for services on the ground. He also hears from GPs and hospital doctors about their concerns. One doctor says implementing GP commissioning is like flying a plane while it's being built. Why are GPs concerned and what could the changes mean for the future of our health services?