The introduction is also posted on Spotify as a podcast by “Gerry at The Health Equation”
You can search Spotify for “Gerry at The Health Equation”
Or use the link below
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gerrygaj
Below is the specific link
“Please follow this show on Spotify. It really helps!”
Gerry Gajadharsingh writes:
“One of the reasons I have never embraced most forms of social media is that healthcare is rarely simple. Apart from LinkedIn, I have no social media presence, not because I am opposed to technology, but because I have always believed that understanding health requires time, context and careful clinical reasoning. The reality is that human physiology is complex. Patients are individuals, not collections of symptoms, and meaningful healthcare rarely fits into a 30-second video or a catchy headline.
We live in a world that increasingly values shortcuts, instant answers and quick fixes. While that may be acceptable when choosing a restaurant or learning a new recipe, it becomes far more concerning when applied to healthcare. Self-diagnosis, simplistic explanations and miracle cures can all sound appealing, particularly when they are presented with confidence and certainty. Unfortunately, confidence is not the same as competence, and popularity is not the same as evidence.
The article below highlights growing concern within the NHS about the influence of social media platforms such as TikTok on health-related decision-making. Senior clinicians are warning that misinformation is leading some people to self-diagnose conditions, reject evidence-based treatments and pursue unproven therapies. Their proposed solution is to engage directly with these platforms by providing authoritative NHS content. Whether that strategy proves successful remains to be seen.
There is, however, an important truth at the heart of this debate. The public should understand far more about the factors that influence their health and be encouraged to take an active role in their own care. The days of paternalistic medicine, where patients were simply expected to accept a doctor’s opinion without question, are rightly fading into history. Equally, the growing recognition of the value of lived experience has made an important contribution, reminding clinicians that patients are experts in how illness affects their own lives. The difficulty arises when lived experience is assumed to be equivalent to clinical expertise. In my practice, many of the patients I see with complex, persistent symptoms have become trapped by a particular belief about why they are unwell. A significant part of the consultation is helping them to reframe that understanding in light of physiology, clinical evidence and many years of experience assessing similar presentations. This is not about suggesting that doctors or other healthcare professionals always know best, nor that patients should accept everything they are told without question. Rather, it is about recognising that effective healthcare is a partnership: patients bring their personal experience of illness, while clinicians bring years of training, scientific knowledge and the clinical reasoning needed to interpret that experience within the wider context of human health.
This communication challenge extends well beyond healthcare. The BBC’s BBC Verify initiative was established to help audiences distinguish reliable reporting from misinformation. More recently, however, the BBC discontinued the BBC Verify Live blog after concluding that the format had failed to attract the audience it had hoped for, stating that it “hadn’t matched how people want to consume” its content. The wider BBC Verify service continues, but the episode highlights an important reality: providing accurate information does not necessarily mean people will engage with it. In both journalism and healthcare, facts alone are rarely enough to change minds. People interpret new information through the lens of their existing beliefs, personal experiences and the communities they trust. Once someone becomes convinced that a particular explanation is correct, presenting more evidence does not necessarily alter that belief. The challenge is therefore not simply one of providing accurate information, but of communicating it in a way that is understandable, credible and relevant to the individual.
For my part, I will continue to take a different approach. Rather than trying to compete with short-form social media, I prefer to write longer articles that allow space to explore the science, acknowledge uncertainty where it exists, and encourage readers to think critically about their health. Good healthcare is seldom about finding the quickest answer. It is about understanding the whole person, applying sound clinical reasoning and helping patients make informed decisions based on the best available evidence.”
Clinical Disclaimer
This article is intended for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute medical advice and should not replace individual consultation with a qualified healthcare professional.
Misleading TikTok videos a threat to public health, NHS warns
The Times
Eleanor Hayward
Young people are self-diagnosing conditions such as ADHD and turning to unproven cures, prompting the health service to launch its own channel
Misinformation on social media is becoming a “real threat to public health” as young adults self-diagnose with conditions including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, the most senior doctor in the NHS has warned.
Professor Frankie Swords, national medical director for NHS England, said people were seeking out health information from “unreliable” sources and opting for “completely unproven miracle cures” over evidence-based medicine.
She said doctors across the NHS were seeing the impact and the health service needed to “get in” on TikTok to counter the spread of misinformation online instead of prioritising traditional media such as the BBC Today programme.
Health experts have warned that TikTok videos romanticise conditions such as ADHD and autism and encourage self-diagnosis. Online videos pathologise normal everyday experiences, claiming that symptoms of ADHD include not putting away laundry, procrastinating at work or being talkative.
There has also been a significant drop in the number of young women using the contraceptive pill, which NHS bosses believe is linked to myths spread online that it causes cancer and infertility.
Swords said: “There’s a lot of misinformation out there and I worry that this is becoming a real threat to public health. People are more and more vulnerable to dangerous advice.
“Across the NHS we’re already seeing the impact of it, with people convinced that they have a specific condition, not wanting to use proven medical options or opting for unconventional or completely unproven miracle cures.
“There’s a lot of people more interested in their health, which is great, but sometimes they’re getting their health information from places where the NHS and other trusted sources don’t usually provide it and those sources can be highly unreliable with unqualified people purporting to offer proven health advice.”
She added: “We can’t stop that, so we’ve got to get in there to combat it. That’s why we’re launching a new TikTok channel to put NHS content front and centre to challenge and counter the threat misinformation poses to people’s health.
“We need to be giving authoritative, sensible, useful advice where young people will naturally look for it, not just on the Today programme.”
Last year health leaders were challenged to become “more visible” on online platforms after a poll revealed how many people turn to social media and artificial intelligence chatbots for health advice.
William Pett, acting director of policy and external affairs at Healthwatch England, said: “Our research has found that one in five people are now using social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube for information on staying healthy Just under one in ten say they use artificial intelligence tools, such as ChatGPT, for the same purpose. Both figures are only likely to rise over the coming years.
“We have argued that this shift in how people find information about their health, with the risks it poses around misinformation, should be a wake-up call.”