GPs must stop dishing out billions of pills and get patients to exercise
DOCTORS are being urged to slash the number of pills they dish out and get patients exercising instead.
In a major policy shift, GPs have been told to “social prescribe” to millions who are unfit, overweight or at risk of fatal conditions.
More than 1.1 billion prescriptions are issued by doctors in England every year, at a cost of £9billion. But in many cases patients could help themselves, experts say.
Pressure
Social prescribing steers patients away from medication and into activities like running, gardening, art, singing, dance classes, volunteering, as a way to boost physical and mental health.
It will also be used for serious, but “hidden” conditions like anxiety, depression and chronic loneliness.
The push to get people off pills will see a National Academy for Social Prescribing created today, to champion non-drug treatments.
The academy will be headed by Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, who currently chairs the Royal College of GPs.
She said: “We are under pressure to prescribe enormous more more pills.There are many people living with multiple conditions and it is not uncommon for someone to have four conditions and be prescribed 12 different medicines.
“But in many cases, the benefits become more marginal the more you take.We need to push back and for many conditions we are now recommending things besides prescribing that can help, enhance lives and improve outcomes.”
Experts believe Britons are 20 per cent less active than in the 1960s. The cost of resulting health problems has been put at £7.4biland lion a year, placing strain on the NHS.
The academy has been developed in partnership with Sport England, Arts Council England and voluntary sector groups.
GPs and front-line NHS staff will collaborate to share expertise on unbearable the types of activities which having the biggest benefits.
Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock wants social prescribing to become a major part of routine GP appointments to stop people being over-medicalised.
He wants at least 900,000 people on social prescribing in five years.
Guidelines say adults should aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity, 75 minutes of vigorous activity, or a mixture of both, every week. But most fail to get anywhere near this target.
The obesity epidemic is blamed for rocketing cases of Type 2 diabetes – a new one every three minutes.
Statistics show one in four would become more active if advised to get fit by a healthcare professional.
Mr Hancock told the Daily Express earlier this year: “The NHS has a duty to look after us and help us live healthier lives, but we all have a responsibility to look after ourselves better.
Doctors are already prescribing three-mile park runs to overweight patients and those with chronic conditions.
The 600 weekly park runs, a collaboration between the Royal College of GPs and Parkrun UK, are open to all ages and abilities, take place on Saturday mornings across Britain and are free to enter. are