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NHS finances under huge pressure

We need to save the NHS money quick smart. Recent reports suggest the NHS is in financial peril with a deficit of £930m built up in just a few months in 2016. This is according to the Monitor and the Trust Development Authority.

The hole in the NHS funds is already affecting patient care, waiting times, etc and if this trend continues it’ll be the worst financial crisis in a generation. 

Helping the NHS save money is something we can all contribute to and is likely to be essential in the days, weeks, months and years to come if the NHS is to carry on as being Free at the point of care.

It may be likely that the NHS will have to be helped by an early release of the extra £8billion in funds by the government.

How can we save the NHS money?

There are many ways we can save the NHS money. Here are Waistaway’s top tips to help the NHS financial crisis

  1. Use Pharmacy services where-ever possible. Your local Pharmacy will be able to treat most minor illnesses and refer those medical issues to the correct NHS resource.
  2. Take the advice given on NHS Choices. For example try to keep antibiotic use to those illnesses that require such medication. If unsure see what NHS Choices say on antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance.
  3. If possible purchase those cheap medications that you use rather than getting a supply on prescription. For example paracetamol used for headaches will cost on the region of 70p for 32 paracetamol tablets.
  4. Please only order the medication you need, when you need it rather than stock-pile your prescription medications. Your Doctor doesn’t need to see you ordering the medications to know you are still taking it so if you only need a medicine infrequently please just order it when you need it.
  5. Try and live as healthy as possible. Stop smoking, reduce alcohol intake, increase your exercise levels and make sure you lose any excess weight. If you are optimally healthy, or in reality are healthier than you have been, then your health risk will be vastly reduced.
  6. Please make sure when you use the NHS your thoughts are not that the NHS is a FREE service. We all pay our taxes which fund the NHS. Therefore when you use the NHS you have already paid for that treatment or advice. Using the NHS appropriately not only saves the NHS money it inevitably saves you money too.

If you are wanting to do just one of these then the benefit to your immediate health and the overall reduction of health risk will be achieved by losing any excess weight you have.

By losing weight you will inevitably reduce the potential financial burden you will place over your lifetime on the NHS.

Our Waistaway weight loss services are entirely patient funded and so do not contribute to the NHS burden. In fact we save the NHS money with every success we have.