Did you know that, according to a study by the University of Liverpool, as many as 16.5% of hospital admissions in the UK are caused by adverse reactions to medication? Or that most prescription drugs work for less than half the population? We can be very willing to take the medicines that are prescribed for us, but how much do we really know about what we are ingesting?

Dr Nick Barber is Emeritus Professor of Pharmacy at UCL, and the author of a new book called, ‘How To Take Drugs: A New Approach to Medication for Better Results and Fewer Side Effects’, in which he looks at the flaws in the prescription system and how you, as a patient, can have the utmost agency to decide which drugs are right for you to take.

Today he joins Stephanie in the studio to tell us about the efficacy of prescription drugs; the systems we can use to determine if what we’re taking is working for us; when we should be worried about the side effects; and whether the expensive painkillers really do any better than the cheap ones.

Resources & Links 

If you are taking prescription drugs and have any queries about what you are taking, it is important that you seek out professional medical help from your doctor.

Buy ‘How To Take Drugs’ by Dr Nick Barber here

Host: Stephanie von Bismarck 

Guest: Dr Nick Barber

Producer: Holly Fisher

Production Manager: Angela Crago 

Executive Producer: Ellie Di Martino 

The series was recorded and edited at PodShop studios