HealthWatch-UK - HealthWatch-UK

Uncategorised Article Count: 2

Foundation Article Count: 17

The category that contains the basic site pages such as About, Links. Used instead of leaving these pages as Uncategorised, these pages are unlikely to change much over time and unlikely to be added to.

News Article Count: 78

Background briefings Article Count: 9

HealthWatch issues occasional Background briefing papers to provide independent, accessible evidence from experts in medical controversies where there have been conflicting or confusing claims.

Evidence Article Count: 1

Skeptical items Article Count: 4

Humorous Article Count: 8

Newsletters Article Count: 2

Research Article Count: 1

Research items Article Count: 2

AgeX: a clinical trial of breast cancer screening Article Count: 5

HealthWatch has from its outset campaigned for clinical trial integrity. For almost a decade we have been raising awareness of concerns over the questionable ethics of the largest randomised controlled trial in history. Known as "AgeX" it was launched in 2010 and at its height aimed to enrol six million women in England to measure effects of extending the age range for routine breast cancer screening from 50-70, to 47-79.

This page details our investigations and exposés.

Related external publications

Unfair Trading Article Count: 2

Introduction to Unfair Trading.

Awards Article Count: 1

Student prize Article Count: 1

Award Lectures Article Count: 26

People Article Count: 2

Photos Article Count: 0

AGM 2014 Article Count: 1

Consultation responses Article Count: 1

Responses to consultations to which HealthWatch have made a submission.

Medical devices Article Count: 2

There are currently over 500,000 different medical devices and in-vitro diagnostic devices on the market in the UK, produced by over 3,500 companies turning over around £22bn, providing jobs for 120,000 people and accounting for £5bn in exports annually. Yet there is at present no comprehensive list of devices on the market. Groups formed by patients harmed by devices — such as vaginal mesh and breast implants — have found a shocking lack of transparency over adverse effect data, and such low standards for device approval that there are serious risks to patients.

The HealthWatch Symposium 2019: Evidence, Healthcare and Medical Devices & Implants aimed to clarify the current issues facing evidence based healthcare in the field of medical devices and implants, and to identify areas where HealthWatch and similar organisations might most productively concentrate their efforts.

This important background paper, prepared for us by HealthWatch member and TranspariMED founder Till Bruckner, focuses on evidence requirements for medical devices in the UK in the context of recent media investigations. It gives an overview of governance in the UK for these devices. It also demonstrates some of the conflicting pressures and requirements in this area.

COVID-19 Article Count: 15

It is important that the public have access to health information based on good quality evidence. In March 2020 the Oxford Centre for Evidence Based Medicine created the Oxford COVID-19 Evidence Service to conduct evidence reviews on important questions about the science of the pandemic. In the summer of the pandemic, volunteers at HealthWatch worked with them to produce lay summaries of their reviews.