NHS and vaping - please get it right!

Once, hearing aids on the NHS were considered old fashioned and inferior to ones bought privately. I know of people who simply dropped these old devices in their dressing table draws because they didn't “work” well.

But, overnight, it seemed, the digital hearing aids provided to UK citizens, the latest technology at last, have made these devices absolutely great! I have hearing aids like this – and I couldn't imagine my life without them. They are wonderful.

So, when the NHS in the UK seriously looks into upgrading their Nicotine Replacement ideas, I hope they do it properly. So far, the drug companies have been making a killing on patches, gum or inhalers that are supposed to help smokers. I'm sure some smokers are helped, but the success rate of these things in stopping people smoking has been very poor. I have always thought of them as a kind of scam, promoted as being successful – but really simply a way of transferring funds from the Tobacco Companies to the Drug Companies. And the NHS as being pretty dim in squandering millions.

Just like the hearing aid transformation, I am hoping the NHS will “get with it” and promote a decent NRT that WORKS! This can be done easily and successfully by offering smokers electronic cigarettes. Trouble is, I can see a problem if the devices offered are old fashioned and so eviscerated by scientists who are not smokers in an attempt to be “medically correct” that, they, like the old fashioned hearing aids, will fail to be successful.

The new digital hearing aids prove that the NHS CAN get things right. Lets hope, if they decide on a vaping device, they choose one that is modern, properly adequate to use and REALLY works! I hope they are clever enough to consult vapers themselves and not only be "guided" by the companies who are hoping to clinch the deal. It's our money they're spending, and they've wasted enough already!