BBC News

New research suggests playing music during operations can have a positive effect on both surgeons and those they treat - even for patients under general anaesthetic.

The public smoking ban should be extended to beer gardens, al fresco eating areas of restaurants, parks, and outside school gates, a report says.

Listening to music before, during and after an operation can help reduce pain, scientists who have conducted a large review of studies say.

The first human trials of a new vaccine to prevent a leading cause of serious illness in babies have been a success, say researchers.

The US drugs regulator attacks a selfie posted by the celebrity Kim Kardashian that advertised a medicine without detailing its side effects.

Diabetes now accounts for 10% of the NHS drugs bill in England, according to official figures.

The first ever recordings from inside the human brain during REM sleep suggest that flickering eyes accompany "scene changes" in our dreams.

A year free of polio, but still too soon to celebrate

What does it feel like to start your first week as a junior doctor?

University researchers create a board game designed to help African midwives prevent women dying in childbirth.

Care inspectors and ministers are criticised for failing to explain in detail how they aim to improve the quality of life of elderly people in care homes.

Which medical tests are worth doing?

An outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in New York - largest in the city's history - leaves at least 12 people dead.

China's black market for human organs

BBC News explains how some employers are trying to keep their staff in the peak of health and fitness - and are even issuing wearable health devices.

All staff at NHS Grampian will be treated fairly amid concern about suspensions and whistleblowers, the health secretary says.

The Department of Health admits the NHS could be vulnerable to fraud due to loopholes in how European Health Insurance cards are issued.

Loopholes in the issuing of European Health Insurance cards could allow foreigners to bill the NHS for care in their own countries, the government admits.

A new study suggests the more children living in a house, the more weeks of a year the family spends being ill.

More than 300,000 households in Lancashire are warned they may have to boil drinking water until at least Wednesday.

A watchdog says Powys council faces a "demanding" schedule to modernise its social services.

Recommending iodine supplements for all pregnant women could save the NHS money by boosting children's IQs, say researchers.

What can doctors learn from how vets care for animals?

New figures show more than 150 new cases of abuse against the frail and elderly are being reported to England's social care watchdog every day.

New guidelines will list factors that must be considered before people's mental health crises are disclosed in background checks.

The first clinical trial to determine whether dogs can detect cancer effectively through scent is being held in Britain.

Frances Oldham Kelsey, the Canadian doctor who played a central role in preventing thalidomide being distributed in the US, dies at 101.

A new garden design explores a trait called synaesthesia, where people's senses are involuntarily joined up.

A Nursing and Midwifery Council panel says patients died as a direct result of their poor care at Brithdir Care Home, near Bargoed between 2004 and 2006.

A web-based programme encouraging people to wash their hands more frequently could reduce the risk of catching and passing on infections, a study suggests.

Pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and Flynn Pharma are accused of charging "excessive and unfair" prices for an anti-epilepsy drug by the UK's competition watchdog.

Patients are waiting up to five months for diagnostic scan results at Plymouth's Derriford Hospital, it emerges.

Nicola Smith, who has multiple sclerosis, tells the Victoria Derbyshire programme she is worried that her condition will lead her son to miss out.

A mother who was transferred between four hospitals while in premature labour with twins speaks out about an incubator shortage.

England's track record for cancer survival remains poorer than other countries with similar health systems, a study suggests.

UK government guidelines on how much alcohol it is safe to drink are unrealistic, largely ignored and should be changed to reflect modern habits, a study suggests.

The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service apologises to a "seriously-injured" farmer from Castlederg who had to wait more than 90 minutes for an ambulance.

Playing music in the operating theatre can be disruptive and surgeons should think twice about pressing the play button, according to a small study.

What's behind the 'anti-vax' movement?

Why might women feel temperature differently to men?

The appetite for Scottish Seaweed exports increases with further plans to boost demand among health conscious consumers.

Regulator tells hospitals in England to "look again" at their financial plans as current proposals are "simply unaffordable".

John Southall, the partner of Gill Pharaoh, who ended her life in a Swiss suicide clinic, explains how she reached her decision.

Stem cells can change the lives of people with serious diseases but lack of donors from the Black, Asian and minority ethnic community means 'less hope' for patients

A hospital patient who is unable to fit inside an "outdated" MRI scanner says he is forced to make a 150 mile round trip for treatment.

A retired nurse from London who travelled to Switzerland to end her life saw the "indignity" of ageing, her partner says.

Two women from Hertfordshire are backing a campaign to provide free sanitary products for homeless women.

The US Food and Drug Administration is 'strongly encouraging' hospitals not to use a drug pump system made by a leading medical supplier.