Encouraging people to get outdoors could hold the key to saving the NHS
The biggest financial burden on the state is healthcare with the National Health Service continuing to swallow up the lion’s share of taxpayer funding. Yet there is no end in sight when it comes to the cloud of crisis that the NHS seems to be perennially under.
Asking taxpayers to pay even more is not an option when so many have already been squeezed dry.
That is why prevention rather than the cure should be the default approach to healthcare. Especially as, despite an aging population, people are not living in good health.
According to the Health Foundation, healthy life expectancy in North Yorkshire has fallen by 1.9 years for men and 2.3 years for women.
Therefore outside-the-box thinking is greatly needed. Ideas such as Protected Landscape-led Natural Health Service are to be embraced.
A report, led by academics from York St John University, shows that structured, supported engagement with nature delivers meaningful improvements. Mental, social and physical wellbeing all increased. While loneliness is reduced.
The idea of green social prescribing should not be dismissed as a nice to have but become a core part of efforts to reduce the burden on the NHS.
The first Protected Landscape-led Natural Health Service in North Yorkshire has already shown the way.
It’s not just Protected Landscapes that can play a part in getting people living more active, healthier lives. Against the backdrop of increasing funding pressures, councils must resist the temptation of a cash grab in the form of charging for car parking at public parks. There is a risk that it might deter people from using parks to get active, if they’re unable to drive and park there.
More needs to be done to encourage people to also make use of canal towpaths and greenways.