Health articles from R.R. Healthcare: what a symptom usually means, what a test is actually for, and what to do in the first few minutes before you panic.
Most childhood fever settles on its own. What decides whether it can is the child, not the number on the thermometer —…
A diabetes check-up reads the last three months, not the last five minutes. Bringing the right things turns it into one visit…
Knee and hip replacement is one of the few operations where the decision is the patient's as much as the surgeon's. The…
Chest pain has two very different answers, and the difference is not visible from how bad it feels. What to do while…
How to use these pages
Each article is written for a patient in this district, in the plain terms a family actually has at 11pm — not for a clinician, and not as a substitute for one. They describe what usually happens and what is worth watching. They deliberately do not contain medicine doses, personal target numbers or a recovery timetable, because those belong to the person in front of a doctor rather than to a website.
They are published by the hospital in its own name. Nothing here is advice about you, and no article is a diagnosis: the medical disclaimer explains where the line is drawn, and it is drawn the same way for every page on this site — including this one.
Read one, then be seen if the reason to read it is still there
The useful outcome of an article is usually a phone call to the appointment desk, not a longer read. If a symptom has brought you here and it is still present, book a consultation with the department it belongs to; if an article’s emergency box describes what is happening now, put the phone down and come to casualty or dial the number in the header.