The following transcript is computer generated

Mike Dilke: Hi, I’m Mike Dilke and you’re listening to the Relaxback UK Show, which explores all kinds of health topics relevant to you and your family. Each week, I talk to experts to inform and entertain you.
My first guest is Dr. Mo from Patients Know Best. He’s developed a way of collecting all of our health information in one place.
Dr. Mo: You can show it to anyone you want and give access free of charge just by using an email address. It also works in 23 different languages. If you were in France, for example, and wanted to show a French-speaking doctor your records, you could do that.
Mike Dilke: This is very useful if you are abroad and ill. Dr. Mo has created an app and website called Patients Know Best to consolidate medical information. It has been quite a task and is his life’s work in many ways.
Dr. Mo: We started in 2008 and kept slogging at it. It is now available in England for any adult to use.
Mike Dilke: Is the easiest way to access it via the NHS app?
Dr. Mo: About half the country can see it inside the NHS app. Others can go to patientsknowbest.com/register.
Mike Dilke: What do you see once you log on?
Dr. Mo: You use your NHS login, the same one for your COVID passport. The first time you log in, it will ask to fetch your GP records. We may also find existing information from about a third of England’s hospitals that already use our system. You can also add information yourself, like connecting a Fitbit or creating a personal care plan.
Mike Dilke: This is a giant leap forward because NHS information is often in pockets and not joined up.
Dr. Mo: Correct. There is also information you know about yourself that the NHS doesn’t. By putting it in the same record, you can show it to everyone looking after you. Most healthcare is delivered by patients themselves, especially those with long-term conditions. They decide whether to take pills or change their diets. They also have a circle of care with family members. This ensures everyone gets the complete picture.
Mike Dilke: This is important for holiday planning. If you become ill abroad, clinicians need to know your basic history or medications quickly.
Dr. Mo: A few years ago, a patient with a rare disease used this. It was the first time he felt confident enough to go on holiday because his specialists were usually the only ones who knew his history. He even went as far as Australia because he knew he could just show the phone to an emergency clinician. As mentioned, it works in 23 languages.
Mike Dilke: I checked my NHS app for vaccinations today and nothing came up, even though I know I’ve had them.
Dr. Mo: If you don’t see them in the NHS app, you won’t see them in Patients Know Best yet. However, we found that about half of vaccinations are marked as “administered medications” instead of “vaccinations.” We are working on spotting those and moving them to the correct section. We found the same issue with diagnoses. I have a rare disease, and my NHS app doesn’t list it on the diagnosis page; it’s buried in a GP note from 1988. In Patients Know Best, we find that diagnosis and put it on the main page for everyone to see.
Mike Dilke: This is vital if you’re in an accident and unconscious. Another useful feature is for allergies, which can strike quickly and make communication difficult.
Dr. Mo: If your throat is clogged, that’s not the time to be explaining an allergy.
Mike Dilke: Do you have to unlock the phone to show this information?
Dr. Mo: Currently, it is password protected, so you or a family member must unlock it. We want to show it on the lock screen in the future, but for now, you must be logged in. It’s a balance between security and accessibility.
Mike Dilke: Is Patients Know Best becoming accepted worldwide?
Dr. Mo: We are being used in Canada, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Ireland, and Saudi Arabia. Even if they don’t know the brand, clinicians appreciate the language translation and the patient having their own records. It used to be a radical idea, but everyone gets it now.
Mike Dilke: And patients don’t pay anything for this?
Dr. Mo: It is free for the patient. It is funded by hospitals or regional governments. An informed patient is cheaper to look after because they need to call the doctor less and visit the emergency department less.
Mike Dilke: Can you prove that it brings costs down?
Dr. Mo: On a mundane level, we can digitize hospital appointment letters and track when they are read, so the hospital saves on postage. In clinical terms, dermatology departments have reduced appointments for certain conditions from four times a year to one. Efficient healthcare saves time for both the clinic and the patient.
Mike Dilke: My next guests are Kate Quilton, Dev Sharma, and Nick Marston. We are discussing junk food advertising, particularly to children. Dev, what is the current situation?
Dev Sharma: Young people are growing up in an obesogenic environment. I am 21, and junk food adverts are everywhere—online, outside schools, on bus tickets. A third of children are overweight or obese by age 11.
Mike Dilke: Is that getting worse?
Dev Sharma: It reaches almost 60% in adulthood. Children consume these ads on YouTube and in their neighborhoods, and it continues through adolescence.
Kate Quilton: We are products of our environment. Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are designed so that we never feel full. They use a specific fat-to-sugar ratio that keeps people eating for the sake of profit.
Mike Dilke: Portions seem larger now too.
Nick Marston: Once, a four-ounce burger was big. Now you get double that. Interestingly, supermarket sales of UPFs like sweetened cereals are declining, while fresh fruit sales are growing. Berry sales have grown about 14% annually. However, advertising is still aimed at malleable children.
Mike Dilke: You have had some success in tackling this advertising.
Dev Sharma: The government banned junk food advertising online, which protects young people in digital spaces. However, there are brand exemptions. McDonald’s can advertise its arches even if it can’t show a burger. The problem persists on the high street, where advertising is concentrated near schools. Why is Coca-Cola sponsoring the World Cup?
Kate Quilton: Advertising works. 87% of parents say their children request junk food after seeing an advert.
Nick Marston: Our survey showed that 80% of parents support a ban on this advertising, and 60% link junk food with obesity.
Mike Dilke: I’ve seen vapes advertised on the back of school bus seats. Dev, are there regional variations for junk food ads?
Dev Sharma: It gets worse in low-income or deprived areas. Food companies know they make money from families who are time-poor and need cheap food. Near my old school in Leicester, it’s a “food desert” flooded with junk food ads, while suburban areas have none. It feels malicious.
Kate Quilton: In Tower Hamlets, obesity is high and fast-food advertising is everywhere.
Mike Dilke: What is the plan?
Dev Sharma: 87% of young people think they eat a healthy diet, but only 6% actually do. They have been deceived by advertising.
Kate Quilton: 81% of the average UK lunchbox consists of ultra-processed food.
Nick Marston: The fresh fruit industry can’t out-advertise fast food giants. We need a ban similar to the one on tobacco. Obesity is creating a type-2 diabetes epidemic. Berries are convenient and often cheaper than a hamburger or a chocolate bar.
Mike Dilke: Who are you lobbying?
Dev Sharma: Local governments have the power over public spaces, like the tube in London. Now we need the government to ban it on private advertising spaces like bus stops near schools.
Nick Marston: We are launching the “A Fresh Outlook on Food” campaign at britishberrygrowers.org.uk. People should express their opinions to their MPs. The government has a responsibility to look after people. We want to imagine billboards for berries instead of junk food.
Kate Quilton: Adding a handful of berries to your breakfast is an easy, critical change for your health.
Summary
Main Discussion Points
The podcast explores two major health-related initiatives: the “Patients Know Best” (PKB) platform and the campaign against junk food advertising. Dr. Mo explains that PKB is a digital platform that centralizes a patient’s medical records, including GP data, hospital records, and personal health inputs (like Fitbit data). The second segment features activists discussing the “obesogenic environment” children inhabit, the deceptive nature of food marketing, and the urgent need for a total ban on junk food advertising in public and private spaces.
Statistics and Research
• Healthcare: PKB is available in 23 languages and is already being used across the UK and in countries like Canada and Saudi Arabia.
• Obesity: 1/3 of children are overweight or obese by age 11, rising to 60% in adulthood.
• Diet: While 87% of young people believe they eat healthily, only 6% actually meet the criteria for a healthy diet.
• Consumption: 81% of the items in an average UK lunchbox are ultra-processed foods (UPFs).
• Market Trends: Berry sales have seen a 14–15% annual compound growth, indicating a consumer shift toward fresh fruit.
Key Quotes
• Dr. Mo: “A person who has their information is cheaper to look after.”
• Dev Sharma: “We have a generation of young people who’ve been deceived by big food companies through spectacular advertising.”
• Kate Quilton: “We’ve essentially been indoctrinated by this advertising for decades.”
• Nick Marston: “Tobacco advertising was banned… because tobacco is harmful. Obesity is also seriously harmful.”
Practical Takeaways
1. Centralize Records: Listeners are encouraged to register at patientsknowbest.com/register to manage their health records, which is especially useful for those with rare diseases or those traveling abroad.
2. Add a Carer: Users should grant access to a trusted family member to ensure information is available during medical emergencies.
3. Dietary Changes: Simply adding a handful of berries to breakfast can significantly improve nutritional intake.
4. Activism: The public is encouraged to visit britishberrygrowers.org.uk to support the “A Fresh Outlook on Food” campaign and lobby MPs for stricter advertising regulations.