Art classes, massages, aromatherapy, summer houses and holidays all free on ... - Express.co.uk

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The NHS are now offering holidays as a form of treatment
Taxpayers are also footing the bill for art classes, massages, aromatherapy sessions and the building of summer houses under a controversial Government scheme.

The money is coming from personal healthcare budgets allocated to people with long-term conditions and disabilities.

The aim is to give these patients greater choice and control over the healthcare and support they receive.

The pot of cash can be used to pay for therapies to help with depression, personal care such as dressing and washing, and equipment.

But patients are also requesting sat nav systems, tablet computers and state-of-the art robot vacuum cleaners, an investigation by medical magazine Pulse revealed.

It said that the funding has been used to buy an array of bizarre “treatments” – many without any evidence that they will work.

It is estimated that more than £120million will be spent next year on fewer than 5,000 patients as the NHS is facing £20 billion in cuts over the next five years.

In one area alone – Horsham, Crawley and coastal West Sussex – £2.6 million was spent last year on care packages for just 44 people.

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We have real reservations about this scheme and the inappropriate use of scarce NHS money on non-evidence-based therapies

Dr Richard Vautrey
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Dr Richard Vautrey, deputy chairman of the British Medical Association’s GP committee, said: “We have real reservations about this scheme and the inappropriate use of scarce NHS money on non-evidence-based therapies.

“While individuals may themselves value a massage or summer house, others will understandably start to question why they can’t also have such things paid for by the state and that will just fuel demand.”

Dr Vautrey said administrators are always looking to “penny-pinch” in order to maintain current NHS services.

Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act showed health authorities in Northamptonshire spent £2.55million between them on personal health budgets for 161 patients.

It included a family holiday to allow a patient to “re-establish relations” with his or her children while another went on holiday with a dog.

In Cornwall £267,000 was spent on five people, including £2,080 on aromatherapy, £248 on horse riding and cash for hiring pedal-powered boats.

Pulse editor Nigel Praities said: “It is easy to see a holiday or a summer house could have a powerful effect on an individual patient’s wellbeing but can the NHS really afford these luxuries at a time of austerity?”

A spokesman for NHS England said: “Spending must be agreed between the individual and the NHS, meet the patient’s individual health needs and achieve the desired outcomes.”

Personal health budgets, he added, were cost effective and improved quality of life.