health

Features

‘It’s a double stigma of menstruation and mental illness’

PMDD is a debilitating and poorly-understood condition affecting one in 20 people with periods, 34% of whom have attempted to take their own life.

Aphra Evans
Aphra Evans

Voices

‘We cannot afford, financially or emotionally, to fight to be heard’

Stephanie Cullen has fought PMDD, a severe mental health disorder, ever since she began to menstruate. She's calling for a healthcare system that recognises women's health conditions.

Steph Cullen
Steph Cullen

Voices

‘I was hospitalised with monkeypox. I would never want anyone to go through what I’ve been through.’

Carl Williams, 29, was the first monkeypox patient to be admitted to Southmead Hospital. He speaks out about the desperate need for more education about the rare disease and gives his advice to stay safe. 

Carl Williams

Edition 30

“We’re expected to carry our babies while we also carry the burden of the statistics”

With black women four times more likely to die during pregnancy, the Black Maternity Matters pilot project launches in Bristol to address disparities in maternal healthcare.

Priyanka Raval
Priyanka Raval

Features

Bristol mental health patients are still being sent miles from home. How are local services trying to eliminate the damaging practice?

The city’s mental health trust is failing to stop out of area placements, but it's an uphill battle amid high demand for treatment, limited funding and staffing shortages.

Matty Edwards
Matty Edwards

Investigations

Revealed: Parents taking legal action over mistreatment of son at special needs school

A former worker has also shed light on what happened before St Christopher's closed in 2019 and police investigated child cruelty.

Matty Edwards
Matty Edwards

Features

‘Women’s health in a man’s world’: One in ten women have endometriosis, but their pain is still ignored

March is Endometriosis Awareness Month, so three women from a Bristol support group have come forward to talk about their experiences of the debilitating condition.

Aphra Evans
Aphra Evans

Struggle for trans health equality

NHS waiting times for trans people in Bristol skyrocket during Covid

We talk to trans women in Bristol who are waiting for urgent hormones, mental health treatment and surgery.

Clara Rose Bullock

Investigations

Revealed: Bristol Mind loses core mental health service it has run for 25 years

Whistleblowers from the advocacy service, which has now transferred to new providers, allege mismanagement by the board of trustees.

Matty Edwards
Matty Edwards

Video

Watch: The new documentary celebrating Bristol’s inner-city walks

The film profiles a grassroots project called Slow Ways which hopes to get more people walking further – with all the associated benefits.

Aphra Evans David Mathias
Aphra Evans and David Mathias

Reports

Social care crisis leaves healthy patients stuck in Bristol’s hospitals

The lack of carers in the city is down to poor pay, Brexit, competition from the likes of Amazon and increasingly unaffordable housing.

Stephen Sumner (Local Democracy Reporter)

Voices

Bristol midwife: ‘The system is broken and is breaking us with it’

Staff shortages, increased pressure and mental health issues are threatening to cause a mass exodus from midwifery. A Bristol midwife explains why she and her colleagues are taking to the streets this weekend to call for urgent action.

A Bristol midwife
··· Previous
Next ···