Hello,
Can't remember if this has been discussed before but I was browing the web
and stumbled across this;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4656866.stm
...and couldn't help thinking that there seems to be potential role for
Health Psychologists here. Is a "health MOT" the kind of thing Health
Psychologists would want to do though? Or be able to do? It seems to fit
well with the "health maintenance" idea offered by health psychologists to
compliment to the current "illness-treatment" (over) emphasis of the UK
healthcare system.
My guess is that it would be too expensive to pay (over-pay in my
opinion!) GPs to do annual health checks on "healthy" individuals. But I
wonder if Health Psychologists would be in a position to (or have any
desire to) play this role with a bit of top-up training? I can imagine
problems with such an idea - e.g. that ill people might end up going to
the "MOTs" because they can not get an appointment with their doctor.
Is this a question that would be worthy of further research? Perhaps from
a Health Economics angle - i.e. how much could the NHS save by encouraging
people to adopt healthier lifestyles and thus reduce their risks of
subsequently falling ill? Maybe it's already been done? Is this something
that Health Psychologists see as a potential role in a future NHS?
Just wondering....
Brian
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