News

County spends most on people who do not exercise

By Clare Alexander
September 09, 2009

THE body providing healthcare for Hampshire patients forked out more than £18million on helping people who do not exercise.

NHS Hampshire’s bill of £18,146,760, between April 2008 and March 2009, was the biggest in the country.

The trust’s cost per 100,000 of the population was £1,441,538, which the trust says is in line with the national average.

The money was spent on tackling illnesses associated with inactivity, such as heart disease, strokes, fractures and depression.

If the costs, which exclude patients in Portsmouth and Southampton, had not been as high, NHS Hampshire would have been able to pump more into frontline services.

NHS Hampshire’s budget last year was £1.6billion, excluding Portsmouth and Southampton.

NHS Surrey dished out £12,786,390 over the same period.

The cost of physical inactivity to the NHS nationally is £770million each year.

Millions

The statistics are in the government’s Health’s Be Active, Be Healthy report, which states “physical activity such as brisk walking can bring about major health benefits as well as significant cost savings for the NHS”.

The report refers to the “economic burden of inactive lifestyles results from the additional costs to the NHS of the treatment of long-term conditions and associated acute events such as heart attacks”.

Noeleen McFarland, public health manager at NHS Hampshire said: “It is widely recognised that a lack of physical activity can result in health problems.

“People who are physically active reduce their risk of major chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes by up to 50 per cent and the risk of premature death by about 20-30 per cent.

“We are working hard with our partners to encourage Hampshire residents to lead healthier and more active lives and have set up a range of programmes aimed at helping people increase their activity levels including exercise referral schemes and walking programmes.

“We also have our new Health Trainer service which provides one-to-one support to individuals to help them make positive changes to improve their health.”

A Department of health spokesman was unable to comment on individual PCTs but said the money could have been spent on frontline services.

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