Matt Hancock: GPs should prescribe concerts and mixtapes

Status
Not open for further replies.
Northerner

Northerner

Admin (Retired)
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Doctors should prescribe song playlists as well as medication, the health secretary has said.

Patients with mental health conditions could be given dancing and music classes, under new "social prescribing" plans.

Matt Hancock has criticised the reliance of treating long-term illnesses with drugs, and said culture therapy could save the NHS money.

But the Alzheimer's Society has said that the arts is not a "silver bullet".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-46111595

This guy is really going for it, isn't he? 🙄 I'm sure a beleaguered CCG is going to approve £50 concert tickets instead of a box of £2 pills 🙄
 
Last night I went to see a Latvian group putting on a techno-opera in Japanese, with electronically-enhanced unearthly singing and gorgeous chaotic digital visuals.

It'd be an interesting experiment for somebody with no ethical inhibitions to see what effect this might have on a group of people with Alzheimers ... It certainly spun my brain around for a while.
 
Eddy Edson said:
Last night I went to see a Latvian group putting on a techno-opera in Japanese, with electronically-enhanced unearthly singing and gorgeous chaotic digital visuals.

It'd be an interesting experiment for somebody with no ethical inhibitions to see what effect this might have on a group of people with Alzheimers ... It certainly spun my brain around for a while.
Click to expand...
I had a similar experience at a Planet Gong concert in the 1970s 😱
 
And me at a Ravi Shankar concert in the 70s. I’ve always known that music can change my mood. Beethoven’s 9th is good for a lift.🙂

But this is just another daft idea from the medically ignorant Hancock. Completely impractical and uncosted.

And I’m not taking medical advice from a privately educated economist for sure.
 
Of course it isn't a silver bullet, but don't be to keen on knocking the idea of music therapy, there's groups that tour around old folks homes singing songs from a bygone age, many of those with Alzheimers can recall the words to the songs even though they can't remember their own names, so perhaps culture/drug therapy could work hand in hand.
 
There are no drug therapies for Alzheimer’s, and remembering songs from way back only demonstrates the clinical signs of the diagnosis. Other long term mental health conditions such as chronic depression may well respond to music therapy. It’s finding the right tune that’s the problem.
 
nonethewiser said:
Of course it isn't a silver bullet, but don't be to keen on knocking the idea of music therapy, there's groups that tour around old folks homes singing songs from a bygone age, many of those with Alzheimers can recall the words to the songs even though they can't remember their own names, so perhaps culture/drug therapy could work hand in hand.
Click to expand...
I've nothing against the idea, just the fact that it's coming from a representative of a government that would be totally unwilling to fund it. Even the 'huge' extra funding that is being given to the NHS falls below what is required/the long-term average, and comes after nearly a decade of chronic underfunding :( Not forgetting, of course, that music is no longer taught in many schools because of the funding crisis there :(
 
What GP has time to discuss music lists and ‘social therapy’ with a surgery full of patients and time over-running?

I suspect most would love the opportunity for holistic treatment, chats, emotional support and cheery sing songs but it has no possibility in the realties of the cash strapped, GP shortage NHS.

@nonethewiser, I agree with you about music and art therapy with Alzheimer patients. It helps to moderate agitation, keep them stimulated and is excellent reminiscence therapy. My late mum loved to sing and I even have little videos of her singing on hospital trolleys (no she wasn’t drunk, she had dementia).
 
Amigo said:
What GP has time to discuss music lists and ‘social therapy’ with a surgery full of patients and time over-running?

I suspect most would love the opportunity for holistic treatment, chats, emotional support and cheery sing songs but it has no possibility in the realties of the cash strapped, GP shortage NHS.

@nonethewiser, I agree with you about music and art therapy with Alzheimer patients. It helps to moderate agitation, keep them stimulated and is excellent reminiscence therapy. My late mum loved to sing and I even have little videos of her singing on hospital trolleys (no she wasn’t drunk, she had dementia).
Click to expand...
My Mum would sing and tap her feet to the music too 🙂 (She had vascular dementia)
 
My mum loved to listen to the old songs she grew up with, I found some hilarious ones that would make her giggle. She had mixed dementia.
 
And just how does he expect the NHS to fund this. Their is so much more money that is needed to fund vital areas in our NHS. Even with the additional funds , if it didn’t have debts to repay it would still be strapped for cash.
Personally I think music therapy would help some people but many would need meds as well and some people will still need to be hospitalised.
 
Amigo said:
@nonethewiser, I agree with you about music and art therapy with Alzheimer patients. It helps to moderate agitation, keep them stimulated and is excellent reminiscence therapy. My late mum loved to sing and I even have little videos of her singing on hospital trolleys (no she wasn’t drunk, she had dementia).
Click to expand...

Happy memories to treasure in light of what your mum was going through.

My mother had vascular dementia, so know to well that music can bring joy to those in sickness and in health.

It was odd, she couldn't remember what she's eaten for dinner, who'd she'd seen that day or remember family members names, but out of the blue she would recall memories of her childhood, marrying my father and what we all got up to as children, it was in those moments that you would see her old self again and it would bring joy to those who were in her presence.

Northerner said:
I've nothing against the idea, just the fact that it's coming from a representative of a government that would be totally unwilling to fund it. Even the 'huge' extra funding that is being given to the NHS falls below what is required/the long-term average, and comes after nearly a decade of chronic underfunding :( Not forgetting, of course, that music is no longer taught in many schools because of the funding crisis there :(
Click to expand...

No arguments there.
 
I thought Hunt was bad enough, however, Hancock supersedes him in numptiness 😱 (if such a term exists :D)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top