Patients with medical conditions that become worse in the cold are now being prescribed heating by their GPs in some areas of the UK.
It marks the start of the Warm Home Prescription pilot which aims to pay for the heating of low-income patients suffering such conditions. According to the BBC, 28 low-income patients have benefited so far from the trial scheme which will be expanded to more than 1,000 homes in Teesside, Aberdeenshire, and in the NHS Gloucestershire area.
Mum-of-two Michelle Davis, who suffers from arthritis and severe pulmonary illness, was one of the patients who took part in the trial. "When the weather turns cold, I tend to seize up," she told the BBC.
