Doctors, Nurses and Dentists Urged to Quiz Patients About Their Lifestyle

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Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, has been urged to advise dentists, doctors and nurses to quiz their patients about their lifestyle choices, in a bid to improve their social, mental and physical wellbeing.

The NHS Future Forum issued the advice. The report recommended all NHS staff to “make every contact count” and said that doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, health visitors, physiotherapists and midwives should take time to ask patients questions about their lifestyle to try and improve standards of health and reduce the number of patients diagnosed with illnesses directly related to poor lifestyle choices.

According to the NHS Future Forum, NHS workers have countless opportunities to make a difference to the way people live their lives on a daily basis. They used the example of a dental check-up to demonstrate the difference better communication could make, suggesting that dentists take the opportunity to talk to patients about the impact of smoking on general and oral health.

The report also suggested that healthcare workers should change the way they utilise their time and stressed that they must be given the support to make their time with patients as productive as possible.

The report also encouraged healthcare workers to set a good example and adopt healthy lifestyles. The key areas to tackle include diet, alcohol consumption, smoking and exercise.

Authors of the report are expecting Andrew Lansley to take their advice and incorporate it in a legally-binding document.

 

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