In the main, the world of healthcare seems to be most concerned with high profile areas such as a healthy heart, avoiding obesity and diabetes, as well as helping to prevent cancer. This does not even take into account the rapid growth of cosmetic medicine, feeding our ever expanding need to look good and desire to try and put off the concerning effects of aging.

Traditionally the reserve of dancers and models, increasing numbers of woman are finding that a totally, and permanently, hair-free pubic region is hygienic, low maintenance and eliminates the constant monitoring and monthly salon trips of other methods.

The use of social media in the healthcare industry has taken an interesting turn this week with a patient tweeting about his experience with a local GP clinic. The disgruntled man tweeted that the staff were a bunch of 'incompetent tw*ts' and was subsequently removed from the clinic's list of patients.

There are huge benefits to be gained from the use of social media. The access sites like Twitter provide for GPs greatly enhances medical networking, marketing of resources, and real-time engagement in current clinical discussions. However, has the surge in social media use by medical professionals resulted in positive outcomes for patients and the relationship with their GP?

You may not look as bad to others as you think but you can end up communicating a negative attitude because you don't look good to yourself. Could this possibly contribute to the fact that being fat is such a discriminatory issue these days?

Dementia care has dominated the news agenda in recent weeks with talk of an oncoming 'dementia crisis'. Debates are ongoing around how to deliver the best standards of care to the growing numbers of people living with dementia.

We did a survey recently and three quarters of the people we asked wanted an alternative to a care home if they become dependent in older age. We believe this means there is a need for innovative thinking to revolutionise long-term care, including how it is delivered and what it should look like.

The pressure to deliver a month's work in a matter of weeks combined with less people in the office due to a myriad of Christmas parties, left over holiday days and official bank holidays, are all expected to takes its toll as the festive season gets into full swing.

What role, if any, should the NHS have in funding mind-body medicine and alternative medicines like homeopathy? It is a legitimate subject for debate, and one that Jeremy Hunt inherits in his new in-tray.

The energy spent discussing abortion time limits detracts time and attention from genuine problems in women's reproductive healthcare. Were the MP for mid-Bedfordshire really as 'pro-woman' as she claims, here are some of the themes she could be tackling which affect women across the spectrum of reproductive needs. For example, some 40% of women using BPAS' contraceptive counselling service following an unplanned pregnancy report problems accessing contraception.

Northern Ireland is known for its history of religious and state conflict; a recent scar that most of us living here would wish healed. So strange then that the group most disregarded during the Troubles, yet vital to its peace process, i.e. women, should be the subject of unity between the extremes of both Catholic and Protestant religious voices this week