Welcome to the world of sexed-up medicine where patients have been turned into customers & clinics & waiting rooms are jammed with healthy people lured in to have their blood pressure taken & cholesterol smear test bowel or breast screening done. In the world of sexed-up medicine pharmaceutical companies gloss over research they don't like & charities often use dubious science & dodgy PR to 'raise awareness' of their disease leaving a legacy of misinformation in their wake. Our obsession with screening swallows up the time of NHS staff & the money of healthy people who pay thousands to private companies for tests they don't need. Meanwhile the truly sick are left to wrestle with disjointed services & confusing options. Explaining the truth behind the screening statistics & investigating the evidence behind the hype Margaret Mc Cartney an award-winning writer & doctor argues that this patient paradox
- too much testing of well people & not enough care for the sick
- worsens health inequalities & drains professionalism harming both those who need treatment & those who don't.