About a century ago, the lid blew off the sugar container with the soft-drinks industry, so that when we were thirsty and desired a drink of water, we also got sugar. To make matters worse, mills that could refine wheat into white nutritionally sterile flour were developed at the same time. When white flour married with sweet and salt, the junk food industry was born, and so too was diabetes.

Diabetes experts at the University of Bristol say they already know that “starvation is a cure for diabetes”. They go on to say that if food was rationed in the UK, like it was during the World Wars, there would be far less of this massive health problem to contend with. They have also said that if caught in its early stages, with beta cells still working – diabetes onset can be delayed for years.

In fact in a recent research study by Newcastle University, an extreme eight week diet of 600 calories a day was undertaken by Type 2 Diabetes volunteers. This study reduced the fat levels in the pancreas and liver which helped insulin production return to normal. It is hard to believe, but 7 out of the 11 people taking part in the study were found to be free of Type 2 Diabetes, even 3 months later when test subject had returned to dietician prescribed, normal healthy eating patterns.

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Our lives have got faster, filled with deadlines, no time to waste; fast-food on the run from fast-food chains, waiting with money-hungry smiles to offer us instant gratification. Our sense of relief which fills the hunger gap in an instant has become the order of the day. This disease is self inflicted by lifestyle and yet the NHS, and health insurers, pay billions in medical expenses for professionals to help us with a disease that we basically brought upon ourselves.

Type 2 Diabetes develops when not enough insulin is produced in the body or the insulin produced does not work properly. When this happens, the sugar builds up in the blood instead of being broken down into the energy which we need to use.

Obviously more research needs to be conducted and a 600 calorie a day diet is not the type of diet to be indulged in without being strictly monitored. All participants in this particular research project had been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes within the last four years.

Food intake was cut dramatically for two months and subjects were only allowed low starch diet drinks and vegetables. In only one week, researchers found that pre-breakfast blood sugar levels had actually returned to normal. Fat levels had decreased from an elevated 8% to a more normal 6% as shown by MRI pancreatic scans.

This diet was the hypothesis used to test that if people lose substantial amounts of weight, will they also lose their diabetes. With such good results, more studies will naturally follow, as researchers also need to see if the change is permanent. This diet is not be a quick fix, and as Dr. Ee Lin Lim – one of the researchers on the team says “It’s easy to take a pill, but harder to change your lifestyle for good”.

Aviva has boosted their international PMI offering and it looks pretty certain that many more insurers will be in the market to upgrade their products and follow suit. The new benefits will be available from July 2011 and these changes include new customers as well as existing renewing customers on their International Solutions policy.

Their worldwide medical insurance proposition – International Solutions, now offers an increase in benefits from £1.5 million to a total benefit limit of £5 million. Routine chronic cover has doubled to £15,000 a year and newborn lifetime cover increases by five times to a total of £100,000 for 112 days. A number of benefits from the “additional cover options” have been transferred into core cover and this includes vaccinations – only previously available for customers who purchased the wellness module.

More changes include mandatory per claim excess removal for individual policies – this is now optional, and for reduced out-patient options, the annual limit has been increased. The annual limit includes an increase from £1,000 to £2,500 for out-patient surgical procedures, consultations, diagnostic tests, and physiotherapy.

The repatriation benefit is new and this has been specifically developed for customers on the compassionate travel option. This offers members the choice to return home to their region of cover when the treatment required is not available locally; it may also include a country of nominated cover.

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Aviva policyholders are able to locate a networked doctor or hospital online and decide if they wish to select a service provider within the network. Dental and optical options have also been improved and both individual and corporate International Solutions have increased out-patient options; but we did mention these earlier.

Global health insurance is a growing market and important to the vast number ex-pats living in countries where emergency evacuation or extensive medical treatment could result in hard to believe out-of-pocket expenses.

Statistics for February show us that 15% of patients have waited more than eighteen weeks for treatment. This is the longest recorded waiting time since April 2008, but is not necessarily all a bad thing. The easing of targets allows hospitals more freedom to make decisions on clinical needs, but by the same token waiting standards should not be let slip too far.

The National Health Service has tried to bring to light; that these figures include some patients who have voluntarily delayed their own treatment times, and that the real percentage should look more like 10.2% of patients awaiting treatment.

The Kings Fund is arguing however, that the figures are due to Government financial reforms and pressures on the NHS. David Cameron’s top down shake-up of the NHS has distracted front-line staff and that the strain of this is now showing.

In England, the National Health Service quantifies waiting for hospital treatment from the date written on the General Practitioners letter; requesting that their patient be seen and any necessary treatment commenced.

According to the NHS constitution – the “waiting standard” is eighteen weeks, which is the maximum time period before the patient should receive treatment, and while the health service still collects all the data, the government is no longer “performance managing” the waiting standard. This indicates that the health service is no longer operating in the same climate, which might also mean waiting standards may get worse in the future.

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Surgeons have recently expressed there concerns with the introduction of new thresholds for hip and knee replacements, and GPs have been asked to hold back on referring patients to hospitals. Hip and knee replacements are relatively routine procedures which have been put on hold for more months than is actually necessary.

They also don’t appear in the statistics for official waiting times, as localized limitations take place prior to entry into the paper trail “waiting standard” system. Patients who need to wait longer while in pain, may not have as good an expected outcome post-operatively. There were also worries expressed that for example hip and knee replacements were targeted as a means of finding savings as part of the drive for £20 billion efficiency savings by the NHS for 2015.

Despite the Kings Fund analysis, cancer patients are still being seen by specialists quickly and cases of MRSA as well as Clostridium difficile (C diff) have continued to drop. These hospital infections are generally a good benchmark for hospital performance per se.

In a recent report by the Cooperation and Competition Panel claiming the NHS was restricting patient choice the network of PCT’s hit back stating that placing restrictions on choice and competition is sometimes justifiable when this is not against the interests of patients and tax payers as detailed in the rules on competition.

With the austerity measures in place a number have decided to temporarily reduce activity levels this year to help contain costs, by asking providers to extend (or not further reduce) their waiting times while keeping them within the constitutionally required 18 weeks.

From a recent article by the BBC it was found in several areas routine surgery was put on hold for months, while in many others new thresholds for surgery such as hip and knee replacements had been introduced. The government response was to state that performance should be measured by outcomes not numbers. Surgeons have described the delays faced by patients as “devastating and cruel”. Peter Kay, the president of the British Orthopaedic Association (BOA), stated they’ve become increasingly frustrated that hip and knee replacements are being targeted as a way of finding savings.

PCTs are under severe financial pressure to deliver cost savings at the moment and it seems they are willing to do so in any way possible, which has seen some restrict access to certain treatments and increased the need to source the most cost-effective care from providers. Can we justify this as a viable means of making cost savings? Are the government going to stop at any length to meet these efficiency savings?

New research as claimed by a Newcastle scientific team, led by Dr. Iain Brownlee, is overwhelming the international nutritional solutions community. The discovery is that “seaweed fights obesity”. This research team has recently found that a fibre known as “alginate”, found in seaweed, reduces human body fat uptake by as much as 75%. This is far better than most over-the-counter anti-obesity solutions have ever claimed. Trying new “diets” hardly ever works; yes, our eyes get brighter, our tails get fluffier, but shedding those layers of fat – isn’t that what we want, rather than what we are getting?

“Alginate” is a fibre found in seaweed or kelp and scientists have trialled the product in the laboratory using artificial gut. This has found a definite significant reduction in the digestion of fat and the product has already been added to bread for initial taste tests. Apparently “it tasted better”, however we don’t know if they mean the bread or the Alginate?

All that is left for researchers to do is to take Alginate to clinical trials as an additive in a regular diet. Rigorous clinical trials have already been conducted for more than 60 different fibre additives to test their effectiveness in terms of fat digestion, and none of these show the same potential results. Alginate also has great potential for boosting fibre intake and absorption.

Alternative and specialized, yet natural, foods which assist in dynamic weight loss and overall weight management can be part of a normal diet. Alginate is already being used by some food technologists in stabilisers and thickeners, but the potential to add alginate to commonly consumed foods in a normal diet.

Foods such as breads, yoghurts, biscuits and confectionery (even soups and stews); may result in as much as three quarters of the fat being consumed, to simply pass right through the body without getting trapped on our bingo wings, waistlines, hips and thighs as it speeds on its journey downwards. In fact Alginate is already the most popularly used commercial seaweed product world-wide.

At a recent meeting of The American Chemical Society’s in San Francisco; findings on Alginate were enthusiastically received. Rave revues from medical practitioners see this product as a “real” solution. The beauty of alginate (and thereby the beauty of us …) would have to wait to see if the same effects can be duplicated outside of the laboratory too.

This ability to reduce fat digestion has already seen Alginate dubbed as a The Great Anti-obesity Hope, but as with all weight loss solutions, relentless scientific research is necessary to provide convincing evidence to support its use in a weight loss diet. It is widely recognised that there are many false claims regarding weight loss in the market place – very few with sound scientific evidence supporting their claims. Although, Kelp has in fact been used as a weight-loss dietary supplement for quite some time.

Weight in terms of the obesity problem is one of the causes for concern; it has been proven medically that many serious health issues are caused by being overweight. Therefore if seaweed bread can be part of the solution for weight loss, it could also be part of the solution for obesity related illnesses such as diabetes, high blood-pressure and heart disease. Obesity is a growing problem (no pun intended) but most people find it very difficult to stick weight-loss and exercise plans; Alginate could make a huge difference in our lives and save the nation a fortune.

We are seeing the NHS turning to the private market to lend a hand but have we brought the cost of our nations health on ourselves. Too much junk food and binge drinking is resulting in long term health issues which is costing the country a fortune.

James, a Health Insurance Consultant at Drewberry commented ‘There are very promising results from this study however to truly combat the problem we need to change our way of thinking. We need to become proactive with our health, we are seeing it with many of the group private health insurance products and to some extent in the personal health insurance market, incentivising individuals to eat healthily and exercise. Whether it is discounted gym membership or vouchers for healthy eating it works and can save people money to.

In essence this means that of all the employees interviewed for the Labour Force Survey, 2.5% had taken a day off sick, citing minor illness – in the week prior to the interview; minor illness being in relationship to diarrhoea, flu, general sickness, cough, colds etcetera and excludes the category “other”. These were the main reasons cited for absence while the next most popular reasons were in men; musculoskeletal problems and back pain; and in women depression, stress, anxiety then musculoskeletal problems. When these figures are taken as a weekly average they reveal some rather surprising figures.

In the last quarter of 2010 at a rate of 2.5% sickness absence; this adds up to a weekly average of approximately 613,000 employees absent from work. Translate this into working days and 2 million working days are lost!

The comparisons of the same time period during a recession of a 2.1% rate, invites comments which suggest that employees are more conscious of taking sick days off work when job security is a threat. However, health experts are also concerned that genuinely ill people force themselves to go to work over concerns regarding losing their jobs. So it is not so much a case of looking at sickness motivated absenteeism, more the phenomenon of presenteeism, which in fact provides perhaps not quite a correct result statistically.

To take the comparison even further, in the year 2000, sickness absence rates were as high as 3.4%, and this rate has dropped consistenly ever since. Noticeably public sector absentee rates are without fail higher than in the private sector – in the last quarter of 2010, this was 3.1%, compared to 2.3% in private sector. The widest gap between these two employee groups was recorded in the last quarter of 2008. Men also tend to have slightly higher sickness absence rates in the public sector, and also, public servants do not engage in the same reactions regarding wide-spread job-losses.

The percentages of women taking a spell of sickness absence from work are higher than with men across all age groups for the last decade. The age group 50 to 64 had the highest rate of 2.6% when compared with other age groups which is 2.3% for the 16 to 24 year old age group. 2.9% or 349,000 of female employees were absent from work in the last quarter of 2010.

Interestingly Northern Ireland for Q4 2010 was and has been statistically the lowest region for sickness absence for the past ten years, and this is incredibly low at a consistent 1.2% – there must be something in the water, or could it be the Guinness? The East, North East, and North West of England were home to the highest rates for Q4 2010 at 2.6%. Sales, customer service and the service industry showed the highest rates of absenteeism; managers and senior officials stood at 1.7% per cent and the lowest; while absence rates due to sickness were 27% higher covering the winter months from October to March, than they were in summer – April to September. .

A study published in the British Medical Council journal looked at 30 years of data from roughly 4.000 people who were being followed as part of the Framingham Offspring Study.

People were divided into three groups, low education (12 years or less), middle education (13 to 16 years) and high education (17 years or more).

According to results of the research the level of education an individual attained was inversely associated with higher systolic blood pressure looking over a 30 year period. The same research also revealed that the associations are likely to be stronger in females than males, on average women with low education had a blood pressure 3.26 mmHg higher than those with a high level of education. In men the difference was 2.26 mmHg.

You can read into these results how you wish, Professor Graham MacGregor, chairman of the Blood Pressure Association, commented that a key reason for these results is that “generally people who have attained higher levels of education are likely to take healthy living messages more seriously and abide by them more often”.

Professor MacGregor also stresses the importance of having your blood pressure checked “‘It is very quick and easy to have your blood pressure checked and I advise people to make an appointment with their GP surgery as many now offer free blood pressure checks.

There are many factors that can lead to living a healthier lifestyle such as eating less salt, ensuring you eat your 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day, regular exercise and drinking alcohol in moderation. We all need to take a proactive approach towards our health and all it takes is a little discipline.

There are so many tools online now to help us live a healthier life, you do not need to look to far a field either, many of the insurers in the private medical insurance market offering tools to track your exercise and eating habits to help you improve your lifestyle. With regular exercise and healthy eating you could even end up saving on your monthly premiums.

This is not the first study of its kind and the University of Vermont, Cornell University and the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine collaborated on a clinical trial to test a tart cherry juice blend. This juice was specifically manufactured for the trials in a highly concentrated form. The study used fourteen male college students in a random, placebo-controlled study. More explicitly, this particular study tested the ability of cherry juice to relieve the pain from muscle damage caused by weightlifting and body building.

The Benefits of Cherry Juice – The Stats

London’s South Bank University found that cherry juice reduces the oxidative damage to muscles and thereby allows for a higher quality and capacity of work out. Because of the aspect of a more speedy recovery; the athletes tested recovered as much as 90% of muscle force after a 24 hour period. This was only 85% of muscle force in the placebo group of athletes who did not drink the cherry juice, and were tested again during the same period of time.

Dr Bowtell also commented that some muscle damage is incurred as a normal part of an exercise programme, but this is actually a typical part of the process of muscle adaption. It is also interesting to note that race horses and humans are the only mammals which suffer from athletic muscle damage of this nature.

Further Study

Getting the balance right is what matters most, and while the anti-inflammatory properties of cherries is not a new discovery, the US study was based on a pain score points structure where the placebo group lost 22 percentage points in comparison to the control group which only lost 4 percentage points. Pain peaked after 24 hours in the athletes drinking the cherry juice while this was 48 hours for the placebo group. The same collaboration is now studying anecdotal evidence that cherry juice may provide an alternative treatment protocol for arthritis and gout sufferers.

But How Can I Save Money?

For those of you who are exercise junkies and could really benefit from drinking cherry juice you should also take advantage of the health insurers that will reduce your premiums for health living. Health Insurance is designed to provide private healthcare treatment when you need it most, given the current length of NHS waiting lists and the lack of funding more and more are turning to the private market. To help encourage individuals to be proactive when it comes to their health a number of health insurers are offering discounted premiums for those who exercise regularly and eat healthily.

If you are an exercise junky and have an existing medical insurance plan or are looking to take out a policy for the first time then make the provider aware of your proactive approach to healthy living, it can only help! As independent health insurance brokers we are here to help make buying private health insurance simple and affordable.

A report posted by the NHS confederation has suggested that hospitals are still neglecting the issue of patient-centred care. Rather than trying to challenge the issue and improve patients overall experiences, NHS hospitals still continue to focus principally on providing a fair and efficient system.

The NHS does a fantastic job with the resources it has, and while there is nothing wrong with wanting to provide a service, which provides equality and runs effortlessly, it is important not to forget the patients and the experiences they have. Although patient-centred care has been classed as “nice but not necessary” by some hospital boards, others have strongly disagreed.

A deputy director at the NHS confederation expressed how simple actions, such as taking time to talk and listen to patients, improving the surroundings they are in and giving them better food, can all significantly contribute to making a patient’s experience positive.

The UK’s lack of patient-centred care was highlighted in the 2010 Commonwealth Fund appraisal of healthcare services. The appraisal was carried out in seven nations, and unfortunately the UK was voted seventh for its patient-centred care.

A patients experience within NHS hospitals, as with any other service, is personal. It can affect how individuals perceive a whole organisation; therefore it is highly important to make sure patients do receive the best experience that can be offered with the resources available.

Due to the “nice but not necessary” mind set of many NHS hospital boards, more and more people are opting to use private healthcare. Private hospitals offer patient-centred care and view it as a necessity rather than an added bonus. Quality treatment, one-to-one consultations and clean and relaxing environments, are just a few of the reasons as to why private hospitals have become so appealing.

If you were to become ill and need medical treatment, wouldn’t you want to know that you would be given the best possible patient-centred care? Knowing you are in capable hands in a comforting environment, can help prevent adding more stress to an already stressful time. Drewberry Ltd has a access to all the leading UK health insurance provider each with a range of products to suit every persons needs and budget. Private medical insurance provides the peace of mind should the time come where you need medical treatment, it would be everything you expected it to be.

Ambition, drive and motivation is pumping through our veins come January 1^st. We are all out running or at the gym, eating a diet consisting solely of white meat, salads and nuts, hydrated only by water. Then comes week two of January, we begin to recognise that healthy living is no walk in the park, tired, sore and 7 days of eating cardboard takes its toll.

A few takeaways later and a couple of glasses of wine and the whiff of healthy living you were so gunning for January 1^st has dissipated into nothing more than a flirtatious glance at what could have been the new and improved you.

The Stats

Aviva’s 2011 New Year, New You report found the vast majority of New Year’s Resolutions to have died a sudden and uneventful death at some point in January, with  80% of people admitting that past attempts at making positive changes to their lifestyle had faltered by February 1^st.

So how can we put an end to this continual boom bust cycle of putting ourselves on a pedestal only to knock ourselves off before we have even gotten our balance up there? The team here at Drewberry are tired of failed resolutions and have compiled the ‘7 Steps to Resolution Success’, it doesn’t have to be a new year, a goal is a goal and to see a goal through to the end we need a bit of grit and determination and a few key ingredients.

1. What is my plan of action?

You are destined for failure if you conjure up your goal and simply cross your fingers and hope for the best. Baby steps, for most of us mere mortals just setting a goal is not enough, we need to plan it out; we need to be able to see that we are progressing to be motivated to continue.  Plan your goal with key milestones, hurdles you might face and incentivise yourself with small treats along the way.

2. Why was I doing this again?

Why is your goal important? If you have to think about this question your goal will soon be forgotten, motivation matters and if the goal is not important to you it is far too easy to let it slide.

3. What is my Plan B?

Let’s face it for the vast majority of us life is just a series of failures which we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and learn from.  The key is not in not falling off but picking yourself up and having the courage and determination to get back on the horse when you do fall.

4. Where is my support?

Share your goals with friends and family, talk to them about what you want to achieve and make them aware of your progress, the good and the bad. It is those closest to you who will provide you with words of wisdom and positive thought when you need it most.

5. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Slow down, your goals have to be reasonable, many of us get over-zealous come the New Year and expect to go from couch potato to marathon man in a week. For real personal growth, slow and steady is the answer, have reasonable expectations and momentum will naturally build over time.

6. Who am I letting down?

It is easy to let the voices in your head take over and pawn you off with excuses of why your goal is a waste of time but what if you had to report to someone else with your progress? Whether a friend or family member, have them track your progress and keep you focused on your goal, it is far more difficult to pawn them off with petty excuses.

7. Have I got the symptoms of Unsuccessfulitis?

A truly terrible disease, too many of us have goals and even start achieving them and then unsuccessfulitis rears its ugly head. Fear sets in, what if I actually achieve my goal! Sometimes we are so attached to who we are and life as we know it we can unconsciously sabotage ourselves for the fear of change. While it can be scary to go beyond our comfort zone, it is necessary to become the new you, the more you step out of your comfort zone the more liberating it becomes.

More info

So there we have it, although the statistics are stacking up against us, if we follow these simple steps and work together our goals can be achieved. For more information on tips to healthier living and ways to achieve your goals visit the NHS Change 4 Life website.

It is all about the money

If motivation alone is not enough to keep you on track how about the added incentive of saving some pennies, should you quit smoking and have a term assurance plan, staying smoke free for 12 months and beyond could see your life insurance premiums drop by as much as 30%. If you are a fitness junky and have a personal health insurance plan by declaring your healthy lifestyle to the insurers you could save on your premiums there to.

Whatever your goals here’s to a very prosperous 2011.

According to a number of influential MPs the change of hands in the control of budgets, having been sprung on the NHS with little warning could result in destabilising the service. A recent report by the cross-party health select committee today warns that the policy introduces ‘significant institutional upheaval’ into the NHS during already difficult times. Difficult to say the least with the NHS trying to achieve savings of £15-20bn by 2014, see more Nicholson Challenge.

The report reads: “At a time when the Nicholson Challenge should focus NHS senior management on the need to deliver unprecedented gains in efficiencies to meet savings targets, we have been dealt a blow which could cause widespread uncertainty about the Government’s true intentions. Beyond the effects this will have on management morale, the committee believes this will have the effect of blunting the ability of the NHS as a whole to respond to the Nicholson Challenge.”

Diffusing the responsibility for budgets across hundreds of GP-led groups from the care trusts is likely to result in the talent for commissioning which is already in short supply, being spread more thinly.

We will have to wait and see how this pans out, the government’s plans for the NHS, including the move to GP led commissioning is to be set out in the Health Bill shortly. Which I have no doubt will be subject to a very fine tooth comb.

The researchers particularly note how certain vegetables – including carrots – can lower the risk of lung-cancer.

Not Just Carrots – Other Veg Too

Scientists have found that vegetables containing high levels of carotenoids (which contains various anti-oxidants) help to prevent many forms of disease, including cancer and heart conditions.

In addition to carrots, other types of vegetables high in carotenoids include sweet potatoes, pumpkins, squashes, broccoli, green beans and peas. Essentially, vegetables with a yellow, orange or dark-green colour tend to be high in the anti-oxidant.

The Research – What They Found

Researchers conducted a study over a 14 year period with a sample of over 15,000 people aged 20 years and over. The research was conducted by scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, United States.

The research discovered that vegetables containing high levels of carotenoids (including beta-carotene, alpha-carotene and lycopene) serve as antioxidants fighting oxygen-related damage to DNA, proteins and fats, which is the main cause of cancer and heart disease.

Over the 14-year period individuals who had high blood levels of the carotenoids anti-oxidants were less likely to suffer cancer or heart disease and therefore had a lower chance of dying.

Participants in the study (which started in 1988) went through a health assessment and gave blood at 6 year intervals. Over the study 3,810 participants passed away (out of a sample of just over 15,000 people).

Participants with significantly higher blood-levels of the anti-oxidants found in carrots and other vegetables had a far lower chance of suffering disease and dying. It is possible that these vegetables help to prevent the emergence of cancer cells in the body.

The researchers particularly noted that vegetables containing high levels of alpha-carotene were associated with a reduced risk of suffering lung cancer.

More information on the study can be found online in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

In the research it was found that a 40 minute walk each day can help to prevent a whole range of illnesses and diseases, including cancer.

The research analysed the results of about 40 studies conducted over the last 4 years and came to the conclusion that maintaining an active lifestyle is as significant in reducing the risk of illness as quitting smoking.

Leslie Alford, a physiotherapy lecturer at the University of East Anglia, said:

“It appears our bodies have evolved to function optimally on a certain level of physical activity that many of us simply do not achieve in our modern, sedentary lifestyles.

“What is clear from the research is that men and women of all ages should be encouraged to be more physically active for the sake of their long-term health.”

The research found that both men and women of all ages can reduce their chances of suffering illness by living an active lifestyle.

The link between health and an active lifestyle is starting to be included in the pricing for health insurance plans.

PruHealth, through their vitality points system, rewards policyholders in the form of lower monthly premiums for pursuing healthy activities. Vitality points can be accumulated by visiting the gym and buying healthy foods from supermarkets, such as fruit and vegetables.

It is just a shame in this case that the insurers points system cannot measure how often you go out for a walk!

In a separate study Imperial College found a third of individuals avoided booking a GP appointment following a visit to the site resulting in potential savings of approximately £44 million per year. These savings are only set to increase with the 2010 NHS Choices Annual Report showing there has been a 10% increase in the number of visits to the NHS website in 2010 compared to 2009.

Health Minister Simon Burns said:

“Every day we use technology and the web to organise the way in which we live, and increasingly so when it comes to our health. It is important individuals can find accurate, trusted information from sources such as NHS Choices.

NHS Choices recently topped a Which? investigation into medical websites, saying the site ‘excelled for its breadth of information’ and that the site contained ‘medically robust information’.

Bristol GP Knut Schroeder said:

“Many of my patients now use websites such as NHS Choices to look up health related information, such as symptoms or medical conditions. As a result, they are often better informed and are in a better position to use health services more appropriately.”

The 2010 NHS Choices annual report published today also found:

• There were on average 200,000 visits a day to NHS Choices;
• 19 million people turned to NHS Choices to find information on swine flu during the height of the pandemic;
• Over 40,000 patients posted comments about hospitals and GP practices;
• NHS Choices partnered with over 170 external organisations which led to 25 million people viewing information on NHS Choices via partner websites.

The internet and the instant availability of information is making our lives easier everyday. Having health related information to hand helps both the patient and doctor, patients are empowered with greater information when visiting their GP which can only ever strengthen this relationship.

According to the research prior to the recession around 32% of smokers stated they had tried to quit smoking within the past three months. By the same time in 2008 this figure had plummeted to 23% in 2008 and 22% for 2009.

Professor West, director of the study said:

Obviously we can only guess at a link, but we know that when people are under stress and have bad things going on in their lives they shorten their horizons and focus on getting through, day-to-day.

They don’t have the mental energy to focus on doing things that are hard, like quitting smoking.

When you look at it from a financial perspective a 20-a-day habit would result in the smoker spending over £2,500 on cigarettes a year, has there been a better time to quit?

Smoking remains the single biggest cause of premature death in England and action to tackle smoking is a priority for the government.

There are so many benefits quitting smoking, not just the everyday health benefits but the financial savings and the long-term lifestyle benefits you can expect. In addition to the everyday savings you can expect to make simply by not buying cigarettes there are a vast array of secondary effects in lower premiums for any health or protection insurance plans you hold.

Changing smoker status from smoker to non-smoker on a health or protection insurance policy could see your premiums drop by up to 25%, add this up over a 15 or 20 year term on a policy and the savings are quite astounding.

If you are a smoker determined to quit there is an abundance of free support, your first port of call should the NHS – Quit Smoking website for more information.