Not just is it fair, but is it ethical, financially justifiable and does it work?
The majority of NICE’s independent Citizens Council voted in favour of offering incentive schemes to patients to help them achieve healthier lifestyles in certain circumstances.
Would you pay £8 for two-thirds of a pint?
I’ve just returned from my week-long annual pilgrimage to watch the Eurovision Song Contest and can confirm that this is the going rate for a Hansa or Ringnes in downtown Oslo, Norway.
Friday 18th December is expected to be the worst day for post Christmas party sickies, since recession-struck employers are holding their office events on weeknights this year, with Thursdays proving the most popular choice.
Recession; climate change; unemployment; and obesity: bad news hogs the limelight, but there is some good news out there, hidden amongst the doom and the gloom. Sometimes the news is good in itself (‘BBC seeks older female news reader’), and sometimes it’s just a question of finding the most palatable angle.
For those of us who gain all our lifestyle advice from the Mitchell Brothers, there is bad news afoot: soap operas are not providing us with trustworthy guidance.
The criticism is that soap characters with bad habits do not experience the disastrous health consequences they actually would suffer, were they not mere figments of storyliners’ imaginations. Apparently, many of the characters who are smoking, eating unhealthily or drinking excessively are portrayed as being in implausibly fine fettle.
…. tra la la la la, la la la la.
Yes folks, norovirus is upon us, spreading in its dependably virulent way in the lead up to the Christmas festivities. Cases are on the rise but this is not unusual for the season, says the Health Protection Agency, providing scant comfort to patients or health professionals.
Today, the British Pregnancy Advice Service announced that it is to provide free emergency contraception at several of their city-centre clinics in the run-up to Christmas.
The move is being supported by an advertising campaign, with the strapline ‘Santa only comes once a year… but that’s all it takes!’ and an image of Santa about to do a little bit more than just kiss under the mistletoe.
As the charity points out, in the run-up to Christmas people tend to get a bit carried away. A heady mix of festive spirit and alcoholic spirits (or beer, or wine) can lead to unintended consequences. Or to women simply forgetting to take their regular contraception.
Then there is the problem of accessing emergency contraception over the holiday period when practices, pharmacists and family planning clinics are closed.
So, from next week, women will be able to go to BPAS and get a free ‘Emergency contraception pack’ after a consultation with a nurse. It all sounds very sensible to me.
Of course some people will object and claim that it increases the likelihood of women having unprotected sex, but research suggests this is not the case.
The Faculty of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care support advanced prescribing of emergency contraception. Its guidance says that randomised trials have shown that, for selected women, advance supply is safe and effective and may reduce the rate of unintended pregnancies without increasing the number of women having unprotected sex.
BPAS’s plans made me wonder if anyone else was attempting to tackle other problems caused by Christmas excess. A cursory look round the net threw up another winning idea. Apparently female revellers in Torbay, Devon, who look like they might be struggling in their high heels, and therefore more prone to injury, are to be offered flip-flops to help them get home.
And, of course, all of the high street stores are now so desperate for our business they are slashing prices, which will clearly help protect our wallets.
Now, if someone could just come up with something to help us deal with the family stress associated with Christmas excess, that would be the best present of all. Any suggestions on this are welcome…
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