NHS doctors are prescribing heating to patients this winter as part of a cost of living survey.
The taxpayer-funded Warm Home Prescription pilot project has funded the heating of the homes of 28 low-income patients so far.
Due to its “overwhelming” success, it will be rolled out for a further 1,150 in Gloucestershire, Aberdeenshire and Teeside.
Patients who receive the prescriptions, where the money is credited directly to their utility account, suffer from conditions that are aggravated by cold weather, such as: B. Arthritis.
Prescribing a heater could prevent her illness from worsening, reduce her chances of hospital care and save the ailing NHS millions in the long run.
Dr. Matt Lipson (pictured) helped design the Warm Home Prescription pilot, which has so far paid for heating the homes of 28 low-income patients
Scientists estimate that cold storage costs NHS England £860m every year. But that number was before the cost of living crisis hit and utility bills skyrocketed.
Energy prices for a typical household will reach £3,000 a year from April, up from around £1,000 last winter.
Michelle Davis, a Gloucestershire mother of two, attended the trial, which was supported by NHS Gloucestershire, between December 2021 and March.
The schedule kept her house warm and the scooter fully charged.
Ms Davis, who has arthritis and a serious lung condition, said she “tends to get stuck in the winter”. She told the BBC: “It’s very painful, my joints hurt and my legs are like hot pools.
In the winter of 2020, Ms Davis said she spent most of her time in bed, but this was not the case at the 2021 hearing.
The study is being extended to a further 1,150 in Gloucestershire, Aberdeenshire and Teeside due to its ‘amazing’ success (pictured: Churchdown Surgery, Gloucester – one of the practices taking part in the study).
She said: “You’re not in bed, you’re not going to the hospital. My kids can have a life. They can play outside and freeze.”
Ms Davis, who called the difference the test made to electricity bills “incredible”, became emotional as she described warming her children’s pajamas on the radiator and enjoying Christmas.
“I can be a mother,” she said. “And my kids can be kids, not just babysitters.”
The organization behind the trial is Energy Systems Catapult, which was supported by GP Operations and a Gloucester-based energy charity called Severn Wye.
NHS social workers who visit patients with long-term illnesses at home were able to inform the study which patients would benefit most.
Dr. Matt Lipson, who helped develop the pilot, said: “If we buy the energy that people need but can’t afford, they can stay warm at home and stay out of the hospital.”
Social workers from the NHS who visit patients with long-term illnesses at home were able to inform the study which patients would benefit the most (Photo: Dr Hein le Roux, whose practice is part of the pilot).
He said it focuses help where it is needed and saves money, reducing pressure on the NHS.
Dr. Lipson said patients saw results much faster than with medication and that “it took days, not weeks and months.”
DR Hein le Roux, whose Churchdown surgery took part, said it saved money and reduced the workload on health professionals.
He said it was a “good feeling” to know he was doing good work instead of just visiting sick people.
Ms Davis’s energy bills have risen to more than £250 a month this year and as she does not yet know whether she will take part in the 2022 study, she has reduced her consumption.
But she said a year of the process had helped and if more could take part it could “really change people’s lives”.
‘My nine-year-old daughter keeps me warm with blankets and cuddles’: dialysis dad faces energy bill nightmare
Ian Copete, 41, who is on a kidney dialysis machine, faces a nightmare with energy bills – but says his baby daughter keeps him warm with blankets and cuddles.
Mr Copete, from High Wycombe, says cuddles and hot drinks from nine-year-old Lyra give him the warmth he needs as her household’s energy bill has soared from £150 to £400 a month.
He says this left them with no choice but to turn off the heat in their small two-bedroom apartment – where he lives with Lyra and his wife Heather – until December.
The family sometimes relies on the heat of the stove when it is on.
The primary school teacher has suffered from chronic kidney disease since birth, which has led to four kidney transplants in his life.
Ian Copete, 41, who is on a kidney dialysis machine, faces a nightmare with energy bills – but says his baby daughter keeps him warm with blankets and cuddles
Because of NHS cost-saving measures, he can only have dialysis for the minimum required 12 hours a week in hospital, rather than the 20 hours a week he needs to stay well enough to work.
As a result, he must choose between expensive home dialysis to stay healthy enough to work, or not working.
The energy cap hardly affected him as it is based on the average energy consumption per month and the family makes a lot of money despite government support.
Copete said: “It’s horrible but I’m almost lucky to have the disease all my life because it means I can persevere and get used to the way I feel – where other patients might have because of the symptoms.” Shock can experience and most of them can not work.
“I try to dialyze up to 20 hours a week because the more you do, the better you feel and the healthier you are.
“Normal kidneys work all the time, but mine is completely inactive, so the only time I have any kidney function is while I’m on the dialysis machine.”
Pictured: Mr Copete covers himself with dialysis as bills rise from £150 to £400 a month
“My wife is very knowledgeable about heat-saving ideas; We have big, thick curtains to seal in the heat, we leave the stove open after we use it for free heat, and we use the dryer to heat our house and dry our clothes all at once.
“It’s better than nothing, and we have a lot of blankets. We should be able to leave the heating on – but we are determined to do it by December as we can’t afford it.
“My daughter Lyra would bring me blankets, she would make me a hot drink, hug me, she was wonderful.
“But it shouldn’t be necessary – we should be able to afford to turn on the heating.
“It even helped when I used to have heavy bleeding or even seizures during dialysis because my blood pressure was so low.
“She’s a wonderful little girl and she deserves the attention and the Christmas lights and I’m home.
“We just want to give her as much life as possible, because she deserves it every day.”
Mrs Copete says she feels helpless when she sees him shivering under a blanket.
says that left them with no choice but to turn off the heat in their small two-bedroom apartment – where he lives with daughter Lyra and wife Heather – until December.
She said: “Lyra gets on so well with him, she wraps him in a blanket and hugs him to keep him warm.
“We just work together as a team because that’s the only way we can get through these tough times.”
According to Copete, cost-cutting measures and patient demand for dialysis in NHS hospitals have led to patients experiencing a “shadow burden” on their health by paying the energy bills they need to stay healthy and work.
He said: “My wife has to start Christmas shopping in January after next Christmas so we can get her things – we have to think that far ahead.
“The problem that many dialysis patients now face is that they are afraid to do it themselves at home, combined with the cost, which means that many now only want to do it in hospital.
“I don’t mind going to hospital, but I don’t like being away from home and my daughter.
“I missed two of her birthdays and New Year because I was in hospital beforehand, which is terrible because it’s not my fault. So if I can be home, I want to be home.”
“The government’s recent announcement to increase the help we receive in line with inflation doesn’t hit us until April, so it doesn’t really help us because we’ve already weathered the winter.”
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Crystal Leahy is an author and health journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a background in health and wellness, Crystal has a passion for helping people live their best lives through healthy habits and lifestyles.
