Doctors in a London borough are to prescribe fruit to fight rising rates of heart disease and diabetes. Patients selected by their GPs for the council-run scheme will be given weekly £8 vouchers to spend on fruit and vegetables.
The vouchers supplied by Lambeth Council will be accepted at Brixton Market and at a number of local shops, My London reports. Recipients will get an extra £2 voucher for each additional family member living in their house.
The Labour-run council hopes the scheme will help to reduce levels of long-term health problems like diabetes and Type 2 diabetes in its area. Male life expectancy in Lambeth is among the lowest in London.
Cllr Marcia Cameron, joint cabinet member for healthier communities, explained: “We are working hard to tackle worsening food poverty and tackle the chronic health conditions which persist in our communities, such as heart disease and Type 2 Diabetes.
“With the cost of living bearing down on household incomes the risk of diet-related ill health and food insecurity have gone up. Healthy eating can help address both these issues, which is why we were so determined to lead this new trial.”
Life expectancy in Lambeth has fallen to a 10-year low and health experts have previously warned the level of heart disease in the borough is a problem. In September, the Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed the council would investigate putting blood pressure checkers in food banks following a suggestion from a Liberal Democrat councillor.
At the same meeting Ruth Hutt, Lambeth’s director of public health, said officials were trying to get more men, particularly black men, to have blood pressure checks to reduce cardiovascular deaths in the borough. She said: “We are doing… a lot of work in the borough targeting blood pressure checks - particularly in the black male community where people are perhaps more reluctant to come forward, less likely to seek health advice.”
The fruit and vegetables prescription pilot will be run in partnership with the Alexandra Rose Charity, a food charity, and The Beacon Project - an organisation that seeks to help people lead healthier lives.
Cllr Cameron added that the council was campaigning for the Government to make the right to food a legal requirement. It hopes the fruit and vegetables pilot could become a long-term solution to tackle ill health among poor families in the borough.
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