To want to get gym membership on the NHS

[lucyellensmum]

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?

IF i dont do something myself, i am going to be on ADs forever, i have been told there will be no more counselling unless i go private, ive had the NHS six session quota for this area. So surely this is a positive thing?

'if someone offered this to you - are your principles going to stop you from doing something that will help you? '

yes, because i don't see the difference between going to a gym and going for a walk.

i don't see why it has to involve a gym.

i'm debilitated by depression often enough.

but there are a lot of forms of exercise which are free.

so how long do you feel the NHS should pay for your gym membership then?

LEM,I would start with a gentle walk every day, with your baby.
Could you commit to this? Get a friend or relative to check you have doe it each night.

sorry, but i think the NHS is stretched enough.

they even refuse to pay for arthritis drugs that help people move at all, or refuse to pay for drugs for some people with chronic conditions.

my principle is that there is a lot more i'd rather see them tackle first before i go asking them to pay for me to exercise.

yes some PCT fund exercise for health identifying specific target groups inc Mental health. ask your gp or cpn if you have one in your area

example of exercise for health via pct

can you apply for local authority reduced cost gym card and enquire about exercise classes

mind guide to physical activity

NICE have recognised that exercise is beneficial to mental health

obviously they wont pay for Holmes place etc!but enquire with gp or cpn about what is available to you

good luck

Round here we have an "Access to Leisure" scheme. Local residents who are on benefits and WFTC can apply for a card and then get to swimming, the gym and tennis at a very reduced rate. Maybe your local council run something similar?

I guess it's worth asking if there's a GP referral scheme, but if you think something like this is going to help maybe you could have some alternatives in reserve (like walking) in case you can't get the referral.

In Camden The exercise referral scheme

This is a scheme where people with a range of health issues (e.g. heart and lung problems, osteoporosis, obesity, mental health) can be referred by their doctor or another health practitioner for a eight week free specialist activity programme.

Clients are offered an initial consultation with an exercise specialist and then follow on support and motivation. Once people complete the eight weeks then there is a range of options available for continuing to exercise at a subsidised rate to prolong active lifestyle changes. In order to access this scheme you must speak to your doctor to find out if you are suitable for the scheme.

YANBU. I haven't got depressed since I joined the gym, and I was very very ill for a while (suicide attempts, self harm etc). Thankfully it's a bloody good local authority one and only £32 a month.

The amount of money the NHS spends on depression is staggering. I used to have a therapist every week, bet he cost a hell of a lot more than £32 a month.

My local gym/pool has a membership rate of about £30pm. That's a £1 a day . If you do 2 classes and 1 swim a week, you're in 'profit'.

Why not go running with a friend or take your dd out to a park and run around with her? So you can spend time with her, in the fresh air and exercise.

yanbu

of course you should, it's no different than getting stop smoking hypnotherapy or stop smoking drugs

it will be a hell of a lot cheaper (for the nhs) and have more long term benefits than pretty much anything apart from long term therapy.

I am really saddened by some of the comments, can't believe how ignorant and cruel people are on Mumsnet. It's supposed to be about supporting each other for fucks sake.

"go for a run" - Jeez

I took one client (I'm a counsellor) for a coffee one day and it was an enormous breakthrough for her not to just be dropped off outside and helped out after therapy to a waiting car afterwards.

Severe can't-get-out-bed depression is so unbelievably debilitating and the cost to society, enormous.

Well done for even thinking this, please consider yourself brave

glad I'm not in need of a little understanding. think you're right, LEM, aibu was the wrong place to post..

I agree with ska, nooka and the others who have responded positively. The benefits of exercise for depression (as well as being common sense) are well demonstrated in the literature, as illustrated by the Mental Health Foundation.

And though I agree with the "lots of types of exercise are free" comments, for some people with depression, having a specific place to go where an instructor helps plan a workout and is a motivating factor, helps hugely.
The money argument doesn't really make sense, given that ADs are so expensive & dished out in vast quantities.

LEM, if your GP surgery doesn't have access to the exercise referral scheme, have a look at green gyms - these schemes are free, and really come into their own in the sunny weather ( I hope) heading our way!

Good luck. You are doing exactly the right sort of thing.

I don't mean to be unfriendly but the NHS is overstretched. You don't need a gym-go for a brisk walk or a run -it is free! Much nicer to be in the fresh air. Buy a skipping rope.Having given up at the gym (because of the expense)I find the free alternatives much more uplifting.

YANBU IMHO.

I may be biased as I've recently been offered something similar, due to my dyspraxia, it isn't free, at least not here, just at reduced rates.

Therapy can come in many forms, and doesn't always have to involve drugs, this will be good therapy for you, and it'll help to boost your confidence and allow you to socialise.

It will also be much easier to keep up with the sessions, if you have a regime to stick to and people to work with at the gym, rather than having to be entirely self motivated.

Don't feel guilty about taking it, if this helps you,and it sounds as though it will.

It'll be far cheaper for the NHS in the long run if this helps you get off ADs which costs them much more than a reduced gym membership will.

YANBU.

But it would be worth contacting your local council and see what other schemes they run. HAve you spoken to them about the exercise on prescription?

They have to promote 'healthy living' and some do by other means (as well as exercise on prescription). They may run other activities you can join in. Ours does walks/dance and otehr stuff as well you can join in.

Well done for having the motivation to look at this.

Usually it is NOT funded by the NHS - It is a discount offered by the gym. It doesn't cost the tax payer.

Our local council owned place does schemes like this.

not strictly true some PCT's offer time limited exercise and fitness to target groups inc Mental health. need Gp or HP referral

Our area did this for a year as a trial. I got a free discount card for the pool and gym. Still had to pay but the health authority covered the £25 of the discount card. So it wasn't a 'free membership' and it was only for my local municipal pool and gym.

I got on it as after DS1 was born I had crept up into 'OBESE' bmi rating .

I did make good use of it by organising a rota with two other mums who got the discount, to take turns sitting in the cafe with the babies while the other two swam! That way we each got two swims a week and did one minding session.

However the scheme was scrapped after one year and my gp said it was because people who are motivated to excercise will do it themselves - people with health problems brought about by a life of inactivity and bad diet need more than a discount for the pool.

lem, good luck and I hope you get some help. I work with people with mental health problems and I know just how lifelong the involvement of services can be, and ditto with drug treatments/time with CPN/psychiatrist/OT etc.

Having some time at a gym or pool IS different and more motivating that going for a walk or run because for the ill person, they are doing something tangible and real to VALUE themselves...it's a stage on the way I think to being ABLE to go out and walk etc. Many people are far too ashamed of themselves to get out and run and it would take a long time to build up to that...

I totally understand why you think this would help, lem and I wish you luck - keep going with the idea - do NOT give up!

The last three years have seen a significant rise in the number of GPs prescribing exercise to people with mild to moderate depression, according to new research from the Mental Health Foundation. The charity says that 22% of GPs now prescribe exercise therapy as one of their three most common treatments for depression compared with only 5% three years ago.

The new figures also show a change in GPs? beliefs about exercise therapy. Almost two-thirds of GPs (61%) now believe a supervised programme of exercise to be ?very effective? or ?quite effective? in treating mild to moderate depression, in comparison to 41% three years ago. And two thirds of GPs (66%) who currently do not have access to an exercise referral scheme say they would use one if it were available.

1 in 6 GPs (16%) have noticed an increase in the number of people asking whether exercise would be a suitable treatment for their depression.

LEM, I hope you can get a referral I know several areas in the SE that run this scheme.

To all those that said 'go for a run' it is very unwise for an extremely unfit (no casting asperaions here LEM) person to just start running. It is important to get a healthcheck with a GP and get advice on proper warming up and stretching exercises - just because you may understand how important these things are doesn't mean everyone does.

LEM, I've only read the first page but wanted to let you know that my brother was 'prescribed' the gym by his GP and the LHA paid for 3 months-worth, a few years back. He was both depressed and overweight. Did him the world of good at the time, sadly he's slipped back now, but it really helped him.

It's definitely not as easy as 'going for a run' - he was far too lacking in motivation to get up and do that, but because he had appointments to keep with the gym it made him go and kept him going, whereas he wouldn't have made it out the front door for a run doing it off his own bat if it were raining/cold/he was too down to consider it.

I do wish that people wouldn't take their personal experience and then use it as a yardstick to measure/beat other people up with - simply because one person's depression allowed them to go for runs/exercise independently does not mean another person's will - we're all different and this mean-spirited judgeyness does no-one any good. If it helps someone, so much the better.

lucy if motivation is the problem I can't see how spending other people's money will help!

If you spend your own upfront that will be a motivation surely.

And as everyone says, council run gyms are hardly expensive. I would be v. cross if my tax were going on this. You don't even know if it will help for sure (unlike the cardio patients and the obese who clearly will benefit).

but it seems like all the people who had it prescribed stopped going once the prescription ran out.

so how effective is it in the long term for a trust to invest in it when there are so many services also struggling?