Screening for Dummies

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Welcome to this website- an alternative source of factual guidance on health screening.

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I'm a  practicing general medical practitioner (GP) and I have created this website in response to my frustration at the increasing social and commercial pressure on my patients to have screening tests and check-ups.

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I spend more and more time explaining to worried patients why they should not have screening tests in the first place or the extra tests bad screening tests often necessitate.

 

I feel the information provided by our national screening programmes has not always been as fulsome as it should. This impairs a citizen's ability to make informed decisions about their participation.

 

I'm also more than a bit angry that my patients are falling victim to unscrupulous commercial screening companies who rely on your anxiety to sell you bad advice.

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In 20 years time breast, cervical and prostate screening as promoted today may well be the subject of tribunals of enquiry because they have been oversold to the public.

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The accepted  wisdom that Prevention is Better than Cure drives many patients to have annual health check-ups with their doctors or commercial organisations. This is already known to be mostly a  waste of time and money because the prevention tests are very unreliable.

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We know from today's research that much of the screening promoted at a national level, or by private screening companies is actually costing us health as well as money.

We have known for some time that some of the screening activity promoted commercially or even by the State does not meet the well worked out standards for appropriate testing of healthy people.

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Before you spend your money , or your well being and health on unnecessary tests, please take time to check what's right for you.

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Please be assured, that I am a practicing physician, regulated by the Medical Council and will make no claims that are not entirely justified by broadly accepted scientific reasoning.

 

With kind regards,

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Dr Niall Maguire MB BCh BAO DCH DObsRCPI MICGP FRCGP (Med Council Reg No 012360)