Plant-based Diet Offers Savings Lifeline To The NHS

Plant-based diet offers savings lifeline to the NHS

Ray Hill
Founder and Secretary of the Health Food Institute

First, I must say I have been a vegetarian since the 1950s. Yet never in my thoughts or wildest dreams would I ever think I would come across a headline in The Times advocating ‘Vegetarian food may save NHS £18 billion’.

Over the years it would never have occurred to me that anyone would suggest to the medical profession that a vegetarian diet could contribute to the wellbeing of people and thereby the financial wellbeing of the NHS. Not only for a healthier source of sustenance but to actually save £18.8 billion in costs.

A thousand health professionals signed an open letter calling on NHS hospitals to offer patients an entirely plant-based menu. The Plant First Healthcare Campaign wrote to all NHS hospital trusts saying there was overwhelming evidence that switching patients and staff to a vegetarian diet could improve their health.

Eleven hospitals in New York already have ‘plant-based by default’ menus. A trial in 2022 showed a 36% drop in food carbon emissions, cost savings and 90% satisfaction among patients. The campaign co-lead and consultant haematologist, Dr Shireen Kassam, said when staff and patients are made aware of the health and climate benefits of plant-based meals, they are supportive of incorporating lower carbon, health-promoting foods.

Another interesting statistic in the 2023 Lancet Countdown report said 70,000 deaths in the UK in 2020 were associated with insufficient intake of plant-based foods such as fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds.

While the £18.8 billion may appeal to the NHS bosses I am not at all sure they can stomach a vegetarian menu.

Incidentally, since I am writing about the NHS it may be worth mentioning that certain diseases of Dickensian times, thought to be consigned to history, are on the way back with us. Some due to poor diet, others to unprotected sexual activity.

I’m referring to scurvy, which goes back long before Dickens and is the result of not consuming enough fruit and vegetables. Scabies, a parasitic skin infection which takes us back to the Victorian workhouses and is now prevalent in the north of England. Lastly, Syphilis which is now at its highest rate since 1948. This sexually transmitted infection appears to be a result of a fall in resources and funding for public health. This disease can cause serious problems affecting the brain, heart and nerves. There were 9,500 cases in England last year, up 10% in a year. Gonorrhoea, another sexually transmitted disease, reached 85,000 last year, the highest figure since records began in 1918.

It is not at all surprising that the cost of sickness in England is predicted to reach record levels in just a few years’ time. If only people would realise they are what they eat. Healthy food builds a healthy body. Much of the cost incurred by the NHS is a result of the public’s indiscretion when choosing what to eat and drink.

I do sometimes wonder if we need a nanny state in order to educate the public with what is good for their health and wellbeing and what is not.

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