NHS Doctors To Pilot Food Prescriptions As Poverty Soars

26 December 2017

 - NHS doctors are to begin prescribing food to patients as part of a drive to tackle the hunger and malnutrition suffered by people living in poverty. Vouchers for fruit and vegetables will be offered by GPs in a number of practices as part of a drive to increase “social prescribing”.

Dr Michael Dixon, NHS England’s clinical champion for social prescribing, said he wants every GP to offer a more holistic approach to tackling issues like hunger and diet-related disease. “Our role does extend beyond drugs and procedures,” he said. “We should be making sure people are properly fed, safe and have houses that aren’t damp. I hope it also has an engineering role in terms of creating a local community where people are more knowledgeable about good food and able to cook it.”

The move has emerged as The Independent is running a Christmas campaign aimed at providing children in poverty with healthy food and helping to slash food waste. The Department of Health, with NHS England and Public Health England, has made £4m available to encourage third party and voluntary organisations to set up social prescribing programmes, in part, to reduce pressure on overstretched NHS services.