Health & Wellbeing

During this Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week, Public Health England (PHE) is advising people in the West Midlands to have their fossil fuel and wood burning appliances – such as boilers, heaters and cookers – checked by an appropriately registered engineer before winter sets in. There are about 30 accidental deaths a year from carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning in England and Wales.

A community activist from Birmingham has been given an award by the national charity Rethink Mental Illness for his work to improve attitudes to mental health. Steven Gilbert, has been awarded winner of the Janey Antoniou award for his passion and commitment to improving the lives of people living with mental illness.

Health visitors and children’s centres in Wolverhampton have been praised for their work to promote breastfeeding and improve care for new mums. They have been awarded the prestigious Baby Friendly Award from Unicef, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and in doing so have joined the maternity unit at New Cross Hospital in securing the accreditation.

A survey of opticians has revealed the most common complaint they hear from patients who drive is that they momentarily fall asleep at the wheel. A poll of members of Sight Care – a support network for independent opticians – found that 57 per cent rated losing concentration and briefly falling asleep as the complaint they heard the most from driving customers.

People who care for a friend or relative can find out about the support available to them during this year's Carers Rights Day on Friday 20 November, 2015. The charity Omega is holding a free outreach and information session at Beckminster Church, Birches Barn Road, from 10.30am-2pm, with a host of organisations on hand to highlight the help available to carers.

Services for people with dementia in Birmingham are being expanded as the Alzheimer’s Society enlarges its popular dementia café programme to cover more areas of the city. 7 new dementia cafes are opening across the city and 1 new Singing for the Brain group is being created. There already are 5 dementia cafes across the city that have been running for up to 5 years.

Workers in West Midlands have revealed what they think are the top 10 most socially awkward situations that inevitably happen at work, as part of the British Heart Foundation’s new Raise Funds Your Way campaign to get workplaces fundraising to fight heart disease.

With colder weather approaching, people are being advised of the steps they should take if they are struck down by norovirus. Also called the winter vomiting bug, norovirus causes diarrhoea, vomiting and flu-like symptoms and is highly contagious – so infected individuals should minimise contact with other people to prevent its rapid spread.

A dog was given life-saving surgery by vet charity PDSA after a sausage binge caused a potentially fatal stomach condition. Seven-year-old Weimaraner Jake wolfed down the tasty treats whole (perhaps he’d heard it's British Sausage Week!) but began feeling ‘offal’ soon after.

There are now 1,806,500 people living with hearing loss in the Midlands. They are part of 11 million people (one in six) in the UK living with hearing loss according to a new report from the national charity Action on Hearing Loss (formerly RNID), with the number increasing to one in five people (15.6 million) by 2035, due to an ageing population.

People in Wolverhampton are being urged to check how much sugar they are consuming. With the city fighting a war on obesity, public health chiefs say families have a role to play in ensuring they are not putting their health at risk by eating or drinking too many sugary products.

Terrence Higgins Trust, the UK’s leading HIV and sexual health charity, is launching its new Champions of Change project to address the high rates of HIV among Wolverhampton’s black African communities. Black Africans account for almost half of people living with HIV in the Midlands, according to figures from Public Health England.

We all overindulge from time to time, but we don’t always consider that what we do to our bodies on the outside can affect us on the inside. Fizzy drinks, chewing gum and eating certain types of food can contribute to bloating, stretching the stomach and causing it to swell. For most sufferers, the unpleasant sensation of trapped wind and bloating are more than an occasional inconvenience.

Mums-to-be are being urged to protect their unborn baby by getting a free vaccination against the flu virus. Flu can cause many complications during pregnancy, particularly in the latter stages, such as premature birth or low birth weight. In some cases it can lead to still-birth or death in the first week of life.

The number of pregnant mums who smoke around the time their child is born has fallen in Wolverhampton – though health chiefs say the figure is still far too high. Latest data shows that just under 17% of mothers of babies born between April and June smoked, compared to nearly 19% of new mums the same time last year.

People living with ADPKD in England and Wales will now have access to JINARC^® (tolvaptan),  the first-ever treatment shown to slow progression of the life-threatening condition. NICE today released final guidance recommending tolvaptan in ADPKD for adults with chronic kidney disease (CKD) stages 2 or 3 at the start of treatment with evidence of rapidly progressing disease.