People can help an under-pressure NHS by eating nutritious food, exercising regularly and moderating their alcohol intake, the chief executive of Swansea Bay University Health Board has said. Mark Hackett sought to appeal to common sense and not lecture by recommending that people choose a healthy lifestyle.
He added: "I think long term we need to fundamentally change our attitudes to fast food and sugary drinks. We know these are not right for us for our longer-term health." Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Mr Hackett said the NHS was still dealing with the effects of the Covid pandemic - for example having to test and isolate positive cases in hospital - and faced a backlog of demand for treatment in areas like orthopaedics, plus more advanced and complex illnesses due to patients holding back from presenting themselves during Covid.
On top of this, he said, was an exhausted workforce which had responded "magnificently" to the once-in-a-century events of March 2020 onwards. "Some of them are incredibly traumatised by it," he said. "We still have high levels of sickness."
