A brand new health series presented by Dr Mark Hamilton and new presenter Dr Nina Byrnes.

RTÉ ONE - Wednesday 10 March 2010 - 8.30 pm

Dr Mark Hamilton from RTÉ’s award-winning “How Long Will You Live?” is continuing his mission to investigate Ireland’s health with a brand new 8-part series, “Health of the Nation”.

Enlisting the help of Dublin-based GP Dr Nina Byrnes, Mark travels around Ireland with a mobile surgery and welcomes in anyone who wants to get an instant diagnosis.

Filmed in Sligo, Cork, Limerick, Naas, Waterford, Dundalk, Galway and Longford the doctors meet people who need advice about a huge range of medical conditions; including fungal infections, bad backs, irritating coughs and aches and pains of all sorts. They’re in a different town every week and in each programme they focus on a particular health issue that has local relevance but is of universal concern.

In the first programme, filmed in Sligo, patients visiting the mobile clinic include a fatigued child, a woman with a cholesterol problem and a man with a mysterious rash. The programme also focuses on Ireland’s biggest killer - heart disease. Mark organises a public walk to highlight the importance of a healthy heart and the Sligo County Darts Team are challenged to improve their lifestyles.

The clinic is in Cork for the second programme of the series and cases here include chronic acne, debilitating back pain and severe tonsillitis. Skin cancer is the medical issue of the week and we set up a skin-scanning clinic in the middle of town where people can check the damage they may have already done to their skin. Nina also meets a 32 year old who was recently diagnosed with the disease.

The Waterford programme focuses on asthma and Mark goes to the Manchester United training ground to meet Waterford’s own international football star, John O’Shea, who suffers from the condition. In the mobile clinic Nina and Mark meet a teenager suffering from heart palpitations, a boy with a niggling foot injury and a man who suffers from TATT, or tired all the time syndrome.

When the clinic moves to Naas the clinic cases include a man needing diabetic advice, a student suffering panic attacks and a child with eczema. Stress is the focus of this week’s programme and the doctors set up a stress management clinic to run alongside the mobile surgery.

The busy Limerick clinic features a wide range of illnesses that affect all ages including a snuffly baby, a teenager with IBS, a woman with diverticular disease and an older gent with osteoarthritis. The Limerick programme features digestive disorders and includes an interview with chick-lit author Clare Dowling who suffers from coeliac disease.

In Longford people coming to the mobile clinic include a woman with chronic acne and a boy with a nasty foot infection. Smoking is the central focus of this programme and we set up a smoking cessation clinic. We also do lung testing and shock smokers when we reveal the damage their habit is doing to their lungs.

In the Dundalk clinic the cases the doctors deal with include gout, a severe throat infection and a man with a worrying lump on his back. This programme also features obesity, now endemic in Ireland, and Mark meets an over-weight man who’s only in his 30’s but whom has already developed high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes.

The mobile clinic also visits Galway, where cases include a sick baby, a patient with unexplained pains in her legs and a transplant patient seeking advice about getting active. Alcohol is the featured issue in this programme and Mark hits Galway’s nightlife to spread the safe drinking message.

Dr Mark Hamilton is a Clinical Fellow in an A&E Department in one of Manchester’s largest hospitals. Dr Nina Byrnes is a partner in a GP practice in Dublin.

The series is produced and directed by Richard Weller.
The Executive Producers are Jannine Waddell and Maggi Gibson for Waddell Media and
Niamh Farren and Seán Mac Giolla Phádraig for RTÉ.

RUNNING ORDER

1 SLIGO
2 CORK
3 WATERFORD
4 NAAS
5 LIMERICK
6 LONGFORD
7 DUNDALK
8 GALWAY