Gambling firms to pay £100m a year to NHS
It’s interesting to see reports of the levy on the gambling industry to fund treatments and research into gambling addiction. I’d hope that the NHS would look at a wide variety of interventions on which to spend the money.
I’d hope that the NHS would look at a wide variety of interventions on which to spend the money. Professor Robert West, one of the world’s leading authorities on addiction once said of smoking, “The more exit doors available to the addict – the greater their chances of success”.
From an Allen Carr’s Easyway perspective – our online video program would be the most accessible for all – you can watch it on a smartphone, tablet, or laptop and we offer email or telephone support to the few who require it after completing the program.
It’s exactly the kind of UK produced digital, innovative, dynamic product that the government has called for.
Part of the Hippocratic oath states “Do no harm” & it’s a no-brainer. No-one can be harmed by attempting to quit gambling using Allen Carr’s Easyway & wouldn’t real world monitoring & assessment of a variety of interventions (not just Allen Carr’s Easyway) be the best way of spending that money?
Sadly, the Dept of Health & Social Care and the NHS aren’t nimble-footed (or minded) enough to look into creative, innovative, non-pharma-based solutions. After all, it took us nearly 40 years to get Allen Carr’s Easyway to Quit Smoking Live Seminars available on the NHS (and £1M+ invested by us) & even now – we’re only just making headway with quit smoking services.
I suspect that most of the £100M will be handed to researchers who, rather than investigating new, exciting treatments, will focus on reviewing existing research. This problem, like so many facing the NHS, requires an urgent, cut-through-the-red-tape response that takes advantage of established techniques which have so far been ignored.
Do no harm! We’re ready to help 1,000, 10,000, or 100,000 gambling addicts in the UK and we could launch the project, even for 100,000 people, within 72 hours! Now THAT’s a safe, dynamic, easy to deliver, easy to maintain (and access) intervention that would cost a fraction of that £100M.
