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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To want to get gym membership on the NHS

339 replies

lucyellensmum · 24/04/2008 17:47

Our local swimming pool does GP reffered memberships and fitness programs. I suffer with depression and anxiety - i used to love the gym but i cannot afford it or justify the time away from DD. If i could get this at a reduced rate i could ask my mum to have DD for a couple of hours a week just so i could get back on track - i want to come off of ADs but cant do so without an outlet. Has anyone any experience of this?

OP posts:
girlfrommars · 26/04/2008 13:09

Yes, I'm sure sometimes my father just can't be bothered to take his painkillers because the NHS pays for them.

cupsoftea · 26/04/2008 13:13

crazy to have a gym membership on the nhs - walk everywhere, go for a run, do some gardening, go for a swim - all this is better than being stuck in a sweaty room on a treadmill.

zippitippitoes · 26/04/2008 13:13

given that where the schemes operate you usually have to discover them for yourself and ask to be put on them and its a negotiated deal then i dont see why it is any less worthy of support than the large numbers of prescriptions that go to waste when people fail to complete the course or change their mind when they read the contrindications

you cant deny some people a progressive intervention because some people dont succeed with it

zippitippitoes · 26/04/2008 13:15

most gyms have air conditioning..in fact i reckon they all do

in a gym you have staff to advise and help you make a plan

you have company

and you arent reliant on daylight or weather

you can build it into a routine whereas walking outside can often be a dreary experience

the ideal is to combine both

zippi bangs head on wall

PosieParker · 26/04/2008 13:25

mm2bys, then perhaps the gp could prescribe the gym sessions and if the OP doesn't go her prescription isn't renewed. Perhaps GP's could have a finite amount of sessions they could prescribe too so that they wouldn't have to pay 100 memberships but 20 shared by 100 people....money saving. Then it wouldn't matter whether you were ovrweight or under stress you could still get a look in and the use it or lose policy would make people go.

girlfrommars · 26/04/2008 13:28

Fighting depression is often about routine.

Getting up, getting showered and dressed, getting out of the house can be a big deal for people. Part of the battle is to establish and maintain a routine.

Having a structured program where there is a routine might seem boring but that is actually part of the reason that it is so helpful for people suffering with depression.

Original poster
lucyellensmum · 26/04/2008 13:28

The NHS is not free, each and everyone of us pay for it - don't we??

DB - might i suggest if you have such a stressful job and you cant cope with it - get another job - having a stressful job is nothing like having depression. I have had a very stressful job in the past, i loved it, the stress was very different, i also found doing my PhD stressfull - you know what i did, i went along to the student gym and exercised. Its a completely different thing altogether

OP posts:
PosieParker · 26/04/2008 13:30

LEM, you sound very eloquent and I cannot believe you cannot convince your GP/practice manager/MP to give you what you want. Just go and get it, forget this thread and start writing to anyone that can help you...even the local press.

zippitippitoes · 26/04/2008 13:31

ime they are both limited in time it is a course and at the end you have the option to commit with going yourself

and i had to pay some of the costs myself

the amount i saved was quite negligible but it did motivate me to go and i found the whole gym induction thing easier because i came in by this route as it meant i didnt have to explain anything and the gym staff gave more time

i think if you are on dla you can get membership as part of mental health services but i have never claimed benefits for being a mental health patient

tho it looks like i will soon if i cant get a proper job

Original poster
lucyellensmum · 26/04/2008 13:33

To be fair, i am slowly coming out the other end of my black hole of depression, i dont want to go back there, im not sure i'd survive - im looking for an alternative to a life on medication, cheaper in the long run. There are some who are so ill that a lifetime gym membership would be wasted - but for people like me, its invaluabe - i have decided, im going to my doctor, if i dont get reffered, so be it. I'll come to some arrangement for an alternative, but in the mean time i think i might focus my energies on trying to get these schemes to include people suffering from depression, not just me.

OP posts:
AbbeyA · 26/04/2008 14:16

I find gym's depressing. In an ideal world it would be wonderful if the NHS paid for it but it is badly overstretched already. Most people start at the gym and then it lapses. I was the same-it gives a structure but I still found excuses not to go. It is so, so boring. If the NHS were to pay I think there would have to be a policy that you had to go a certain number of times a week and if you failed then membership stopped.

AbbeyA · 26/04/2008 14:17

Sorry-I am careless with apostrophes.

Original poster
lucyellensmum · 26/04/2008 15:31

I think that is a fair comment abbey. It is very easy to sit and say yes, i want to go to the gym etc and not so easy to keep it up. I would like to think i would as i did keep up regular attendance at the university gym. I really dont think it is a case of NHS paying for this, as it is only for council run gyms. I would hate to go to a popular gym just now, id feel too self concious.

Ive just done some gardening and mowed the lawn, thats a start

OP posts:
nofoodinthehouse · 26/04/2008 18:46

I´m surprised noone has commented on my earlier post.. If my PRIVATE health insurance can pay for up to 500 quid a year towards gym membership, surely this is indicating that this is a COST-EFFECTIVE measure, taken to improve people´s health and well-being, and ultimately cost LESS money in the long run. Or are insurance companies not in the business of making money?!

zippitippitoes · 26/04/2008 18:55

o commented no foodinthehouse i agree with you entirely

there is a lot of shortsightedness in health care

as in life

wait until things go tits up and then chuck money at it

why not pay loads of money to the wrong people and causes when you could plan for health care

one of my ex bils works as a troubleshooter for the nhs he drives as brand new range rover vohgue

he used to be a buyer of tablecloths for harrods

VaginaShmergina · 26/04/2008 19:13

Lucyellensmum, if this a "provision" then why should you not apply for it ? They can only turn you down then you go back to the drawing board.

It is a facility that takes referrals from GP's so why should you not ask to be referred ?

It may just give you the boost you need and then you can start to take back some control for yourself.

With regards to the comments about when you get better and then continue to use the facility, I am sure there is something in place with your GP that would then discontinue the membership.

Depression is a horrid thing and if people understood how low you can get then I'm sure they would support you all the way.

Go for it................ x

ska · 26/04/2008 19:27

apart from presc charges the nhs is still free at point of service and should continue as such for all of eternity. once people have to pay, they won't go and tey will get siker. poor people still exist in the uk - lots and lots of them. nhs isn't free, we all contribute to its costs. and therefore should be benefiting from the wealth of preventative measures on offer.
good luck LEM and to allthe other posters with depressiom. it is a long hard raod and exercise may well help.
btw bipolar type 2 isn't so common and often missed by gps without a specialism - a good psych would spot it. lots of websites have info.

mrz · 26/04/2008 19:41

The gym at my local leisure centre accepts GP referrals which gives a month free membership then reduced fees

whispywhisp · 27/04/2008 12:16

If the offer is there...go for it. xxxx

CilC · 27/04/2008 16:36

I have found walking really helpful. You can slowly build up and then begin running or even cycling if you have a bike - if walking/running and you can take a pram and if cycling you have a baby seat. I used to do this in a local park and after 40 mins made an agreement with my daughter that we would then go to the sand pit/cafe with toys if raining etc. Fresh air and exercise does help and is free. I am not sure how gym equipment can be helpful...inside, monotonous etc.

belle74 · 27/04/2008 20:38

Hello Lucyellensmum

I understand wher some of the other posters are coming from but I think YANBU.

there is good scientific evidence to show that moderate regular excersise is equally effective if not more so for some people than AD's, which can be hit and miss at best and also have unwanted side effects.

Sorry to go off subject slightly but can you say more about the Gp not being able to refer you for counselling/cbt

The Mental health PCT local to you has a duty to provide a service and if they are unable to for any reason(no-one employed, waitng lists oo long etc etc) and your gp is willing to state you have a health need then you may well be able to access funding via other means.

Good luck

Original poster
lucyellensmum · 27/04/2008 21:06

Thanks for that belle, i also can see where the other posters are coming from too - i just think that this is a positive opportunity to help myself.

I truly believe that i would benefit from CBT type therapy as my anxiety problem has been with me a long time. I think it adversely affected the relationship i had with DD1 too - i can see that now. I asked my doctor about it and she said that i would have to jump through so many hoops to be reffered and even then the waiting list so long that it is more or less unavailable around here. Funny that you should mention duty of care, because that is what my health visitor said, she asked me if i had been reffered for pyschiatric assesment and was quite cross when i said that i hadn't. I have told two doctors now that i have felt suicidal and my health visitor. I am on top of the feeling if you know what i mean, but it frightens me. Based on that, i dont think they took me seriously as one doctor just increased my dose of citalopram the other said i should take responsibility for my own health . I spoke to a friend from M&T who admitted having PND and she said to me that they offered her psychiatric assesment, i imagine she must have turned up at the clinic with two pencils up each nostril, a hankerchief on her head shouting "wibble" as i am not sure how bad you have to be before they throw any serious therapy your way.

I am very up and down, high one minute, down the next, which was why i was curiouis about the bi polar, but from what i have read i dont think i am. Its the anxiety that cripples me. Sorry, waffled on there a bit. The whole gym debate has been done to death, im not commenting on that anymore.

OP posts:
VaginaShmergina · 27/04/2008 22:14

lucyellensmum, have a friend who is bi-polar but also has 3 kids and is an HIV nurse, will have a word if you like to see if she can give any pointers x

Original poster
lucyellensmum · 27/04/2008 22:44

thanks vag I am considered a very loud and OTT person actually, and my friends (apart from my close friends) actually think i am very confident, im NOT confident at all. I can be like that, but recently not at all.........i dont really want to go to the doctors and suggest this because one of my issues is health anxiety (in a BIG way) and i dont want them thinking ive been googling again.

OP posts:
scottishmummy · 27/04/2008 22:52

you need to see the gp or a HP to get your referral.you made raised the question via OP so do you want to proceed or not?if you cant go to the gp to inquire how will you be motivated enough to particiapte in specific treatment?

i presume you get repeat prescription to collect at gp - do it then.