NHS forum calls for health staff to offer more advice

Doctors and nurses must use every chance they have to remind patients about the dangers of drinking, smoking and unhealthy eating, a report recommends today.

Pharmacists, midwives, physiotherapists, eye experts and other NHS staff should also “change how they use their time” to give general health advice whenever they can.

But staff must also be healthy themselves and patients expect the health service to “put its own house in order” before they are dictated to, Government advisers suggest.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The recommendations are put forward in a report by the NHS Future Forum, which is supporting the coalition Government as plans for a radical overhaul of the health service go through Parliament.

The forum calls for NHS staff to “make every contact count” to maintain or improve patients’ mental and physical health and wellbeing.

They must know it is “part of their job”, the report adds, and Health Secretary Andrew Lansley should emphasise the approach by including it in the legally-binding NHS Constitution.

The forum says there are “millions of opportunities every day” for the NHS to help to improve people’s wellbeing and bridge the gap in health standards between patients from different areas.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“A routine dental check-up or eye test, for example, is a chance to offer advice to help someone stop smoking,” the report states. “A visit from a midwife or health visitor is an opportunity to talk about a new parent’s anxieties and consider options for accessing mental health support.

“Collecting medication from a pharmacy is a chance to offer someone help with cutting down on alcohol.”

Chief executive of the charity Diabetes UK, Barbara Young, said there was “much to welcome” in it but raised doubts about how the reforms would ensure excellent care standards across the country when services are being devolved.

“The postcode lottery for people with diabetes is already unacceptable and our great fear is that this could make the disparity in quality of care even worse,” she added.

The approach to “make every contact count” has been pioneered by health services in Yorkshire for the last two years in a bid to improve health outcomes and save money.

Related topics: