I paid a visit to a local hospital this week.  I almost couldn’t find the doors to get in due to the thick fog that had descended around the main entrance.  For once, this one couldn’t be blamed on the Welsh weather.

Patients in wheelchairs, many with drips attached,  a few with newly amputated limbs, smoking. Every visitor had to walk through them as they came in.  I think I must have passively smoked about 4 cigarettes as I walked passed.

Could this be a huge factor in the NHS being under so much financial pressure?

Surely it’s about time we all started taking responsibility for our own health?

Stats from 2014 show that smoking related diseases, costs the NHS approx £2 billion each year. In 2009, spending on cardiovascular disease caused by smoking cost £205.8 million.

A drug that can offer some women with advanced breast cancer nearly six months of extra life has been turned down for use in the NHS because of its high cost.

It doesn’t seem like rocket science to work out where I think the money should be going, what about you?