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Focus Group 6
Me What is the biggest health problem facing everyone today?
FG65 Obesity.
Me Can I ask why? Well I will ask why.
FG65 It would seem to me that a lot of the younger people are certainly not
taking part in active sports as much as they used to do in the past
and this is leading to problems both here and in America with the
possibility of obesity in children as they go through life.
Me Has anybody got any more to say on that or a different problem
completely?
FG62 I can say to a point it is a problem but not as public health. I thought
public health is to put in clean sanitation, clean water, sanitation,
control of infectious diseases basically.
Me I‟ll say then health problems, any health problems.
FG62 Health problems, well obesity and sexually transmitted diseases.
FG63 Drugs under health.
Me Drug abuse yeah, I‟ll include that in as well.
FG64 I think the eradication of cancer, I mean that, get it out by it‟s roots.
Me OK any others?
FG61 Childhood asthma, which usually leads to long-term asthma. I was
lucky that my children haven‟t got any ailment at all ?I feel very lucky
with? children, but their cousins do have for various reasons, whether
they‟ve lived in cities or for other reasons, Inexplicable allergies that
just develop and seem to be turning into long term problems.
Me Any other problems or what I would ask is then for those propositions
that have been mentioned why do you think they are so important? Is
it the type of illness, the scale of the illness or…?
FG61 Think you have to look at the causes before you look at the actual
treatment, the problems themselves, lets look at what the causes are.
Start from the bottom up and find out what cause is rather than treat
it once its become a problem and then you won‟t have the problems
to deal with
FG62 The other thing I suppose is poverty in general, because poor people
are sicker than the more wealthy.
FG61 Might be that the more wealthy might go to the doctor more often __
can‟t take time off work.
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FG62 It‟s lifestyle really. Something to do with that the poor people tend
not to look after themselves, whether it‟s out of ignorance or just
because they don‟t care, I don‟t know.
FG64 I find the term public health a little confusing because when I was
young and it meant things like sanitation, or a public health or
sanitary inspector and in this context I take it means the health of
individual members of the public?
Me Yes, for the sake of the general discussion about health issues and
why you think they‟re important. Different people think different
things are important for different reasons. For example you
mentioned cancer as a big health problem. Why do you think that‟s a
big problem, just numbers?
FG64 Well I think it is manifest isn‟t it? The numbers are so great, I think it
kills more than…, it‟s the greatest killer of all. People, the, tobacco,
the last cigarette you had 30 years ago causes it now.
Me OK that leads me on to our next question. When we think about
health problems, whether the ones you‟ve mentioned or others: what
do you think the government should do to improve health?
FG61 They should bring it back into schools, they should bring it back into
the issues in biology and home economics, I think it is, and stuff like
that. All these were covered when I was at school, a while ago, but
they don‟t seem to cover it in school at all now, regards nutrition and
health, lifestyle, it‟s not actually part of the curriculum, it‟s sort of
covered fleetingly. Oh well we‟ve done that, and then that‟s it, it‟s
left, it‟s not ongoing development of the individual as they go through
school, taking them through the stages and the other learning that
they should have in order to cope with life outside. There‟s a lot of
things that aren‟t covered in schools.
FG62 The other thing they could do is ban smoking in all public places. __+
I‟m very anti-authoritarian, as much as people can do what they
want, but I think that smoking is something that should be done by
consenting adults in private. They can kill themselves if they want,
but in a public places I think it ought to be banned.
FG61 I think for the Government that‟s why the income costs, what they
get from the income and what it‟s costing them at the moment in
healthcare. Because they are going to have an ongoing problem to, if
people start dramatically ?chopping up? smoking, two of my children
smoke and I keep telling them not to. ?Course? I told them about the
extra additives that have been put into cigarettes to make them even
more addictive than they were thirty years ago. But it would be very
difficult for the government to, if they were to lose 50% smokers
they‟ve lost that income and they‟ve still got the people to treat now
without having a wedge of money to…
FG63 Hypocrisy is the word.
FG61 If they don‟t all give up smoking all at once, they should do it
gradually over the next thirty/forty years.
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FG63 They want it both ways.
FG62 I don‟t know, you see all sorts of different figures, but I must admit
that a lot of the health care budget is spent on the treatment of
smoking-related diseases. If we didn‟t have any of these – it‟s a none
answer really, because people will always want more health care but
if you‟re doing things, as accountants do, saying “we get this amount
of income from smoking, it costs this much to treat smoke related
diseases”, they probably equal up to an extent. Am I right?
Me I wouldn‟t like to say, I don‟t know, I really don‟t know. Any other
ideas about how the government should help improve the health of
the public?
FG64 I think it has become too much of a political football, the National
Health Service in particular and the government should take a much
longer view of things than four years. I wonder whether the present
system is as good as the old when you have national headquarters,
regional headquarters, district headquarters and then down to the
bottom in a nice, tidy system. I should think financing it would have
been easier then than it is now. You hear of primary care health
trusts virtually going bankrupt, should not be so.
Me Any other ways the government can tackle health problems?
FG65 Yes, more control over food and food additives in particular, __
Me So for processed foods?
FG65 Yes. We‟ve got to buy, we need food, but it‟s imperative that it‟s as
wholesome and as unadulterated as it can be.
Me Does that mean regulation?
FG65 Of the food industry? Yes more regulation, tighter regulation, better
regulation, whatever you wish to call it.
Me Any other ideas?
FG65 I think the water is OK, something you need, you have to have.
FG62 Fluoridate the water to stop people getting caries.
Me Would you be happy with that?
FG Yeah, I‟m happy with that.
Me I‟ve got a couple, you‟ve mentioned a couple of potential policies that
could be done. I‟ve got one here that I‟ve prepared earlier. I will help
with the potential solution, I‟ll just hand them around then when I‟m
sat down I‟ll read it out and I‟d just like you to think, what do you
think of this policy really?
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Speed Limits policy….
FG63 I don‟t think many people would disagree with it as a figure and
reading that. It‟s just a case of how you‟re going to apply it that‟s all-
important. If you‟re going to go on to residential estates with lots of
kids, fine, going into the middle of towns, fine. But you all know while
driving round the country, I mean in Derbyshire, apply 50 miles an
hour all down the A6, now there‟s some areas on that, there‟s no
reason why it shouldn‟t be 60. The County Councils are just throwing
in figures, signs, there doesn‟t appear to be any reason for some of
them at all, maybe there trying to get rid of their March budget on
signs, but as such I don‟t think any sensible person could disagree
with 20 miles an hour in proper residential areas.
FG65 Would this be 24 hours a day, necessarily?
Me I think the idea is yes.
FG61 They have in Australia, I moved out there, have 20 mile an hour,
equivalent of 20 mile an hour as it‟s kilometres out there, 20 mile an
hour speed limits outside schools and playground areas. Outside
schools they do it at certain times and it is in term time. Outside play
areas and some play areas are actually attached to schools, so they
are public fields that the school uses during term-term, those are
done by certain hours of the day, so in other words it would be from 8
o‟clock in the morning until 8 o‟clock at night, and that is the
equivalent of 20 mile an hour speed limit and they have speed
cameras at the beginning and at the end. And they are a huge signs,
huge signs saying these are the hours it operates.
Me So you would be happier when it is certain hours rather than just?
FG61 Probably yes because then it makes sense because, with they‟ve
found it works out there because they have had it out there for quite
some time, there‟s markings on the road, a different colour strip that
you drive across so you can‟t say you haven‟t seen the signs or the
signs up on the street were obscured or something. There is no
excuse. And because it‟s across the board everywhere, the same
times, then anywhere you drive in New South Wales it‟s all the same.
If it „s a school day, and it‟s a school day, you know what the times
are, you know what speed you should be going at. People do do it,
they do slow right down, they really do. They are far better at doing it
in those areas than we are, I think overall their deaths on roads, per
head of population, has halved now.
FG62 This is fairly convincing on the figures, but this doesn‟t mean weight
of numbers, a significant number of injuries in urban areas, if you
compare us to the rest of the world. Is it really worth doing in terms
of…
Me So a sixty per cent reduction if it‟s one person a year, is maybe not
worth it, three hundred people a year it might be worth doing?
FG62 Yeah, that sort of thing.
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Me I don‟t know the answer I‟m afraid, apologies for not giving you all
the facts there. Any other comments on that, any views on that?
Whether it‟s a good thing, bad thing?
FG61 Think it‟s a good thing.
FG64 It‟s speed that kills. I remember learning when I was a boy the force
of impact is ½ m v squared, half the mass of the car times the square
of the speed thus if you had an accident at 30 miles an hour it‟s 900,
as opposed to 20, becomes 400, and then of course we had the
demon drink.
FG62 A point of interest on this sort of thing, somebody has had a scheme
somewhere in England where they‟re, can‟t remember the details, but
they‟re mixing pedestrians and traffic and not trying to separate them
and the article I saw said it seems to be working because people
make eye contact and walk and drive very carefully.
FG61 Taken away all the signs haven‟t they, all the signs have been moved.
All the street furniture, signs, have all been removed. Taken away
pavement, __ and the whole lot, Cambridge was it.
FG62 Thought it was somewhere like Durham, I can‟t remember. It hasn‟t
been going for very long but it seems to be working, I think.
FG61 Was it something to do with the confusion of road signs for drivers it
said it‟s overloading drivers and the pedestrians haven‟t got enough
room.
FG62 I think the theory is that if you put up a speed limit, people drive at
it. If you‟ve got your bit of road, you can drive at 20 miles an hour,
30 miles an hour, but if you‟ve got to share it with pedestrians and
cyclists you take more care. And they __ find people were making
eye contact and slowing down, people being altogether more
courteous than otherwise.
FG? Don‟t think it will work in Bakewell.
FG So we‟ve got no reservations about that policy then? Right, we‟ve got
another one, same drill I‟ll just hand it out. The policy which is being
discussed is the fortification of food with folic acid.
Folic Acid
FG63 What‟s neural tube defects?
BL Spina bifida is the common one and anencephaly, which is a bit
similar but in the head, is the other. So it’s when the spine doesn’t
close properly and so the spinal cord is exposed, so it’s sometimes
fatal and sometimes not, or can lead to disability.
FG63 How many babies are born in the United Kingdom in a year?
Me In total?
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BL About 60 000 isn’t it, no 600,000.
FG62 So statistically it‟s not a high proportion of children born with neural
tube defects anyway.
Me No
BL Well __ in the past because often they’d be picked up on a scan.
FG62 To treat a whole population there must always be side effects to avoid
a very small proportion, a small number.
BL It might mask the fact that a number of people will abort foetuses
with, will be picked up and then aborted. So that’s probably in
addition to the number of babies born.
FG62 And why does it say if it goes ahead the treatment of B12 deficiencies
will be made more difficult?
Me It‟s a fairly technical argument which I don‟t fully understand but
vitamin B12 deficiency is mainly seen in the elderly and folic acid gets
in the way of the screening test they do for vitamin B12 deficiency. So
it means you can‟t identify it as quickly and therefore the signs and
symptoms are not picked up until later, therefore these problems,
which is called peripheral neuropathy, this feeling of numbness,
sometimes can‟t be avoided. That‟s the problem with it.
FG62 But in order to make the judgement you need to know how many
cases of B12 deficiency there are, it‟s obviously a balance I would
have said. I don‟t think you can say anything, you can‟t comment on
this.
FG63 Are we saying at the end of the day that in rough terms the number
of spina bifida babies or others in that group will be cut by half by the
addition of adding folic acid to the whole of the food chain.
Me Give or take, yes.
FG61 What would it be added to? What foodstuffs?
Me Essentially it‟s added to flour, so anything made with flour would have
it in, although you may be able to buy non folic acid foods, so maybe
organic foodstuffs, but your flour, your cornflakes.
FG61 What else do we have in flour, because they did something in the war
didn‟t they where they added something to flour, for the health of the
nation, so that in your daily bread you got, whatever it was they did
at the time.
FG65 I think there is one vitamin added to it already.
FG61 I just think at what point do you stop forcing things on people, you‟ve
got fluoride put in the water. My first child had fluoride drops
because I was told __+ fluoride drops and guess what, it was already
in the water. They just put it in and they hadn‟t told anybody, they
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hadn‟t even told the dentist that they had put it in.
FG62 The other thing about this is, you‟ve got a population to be taught,
you‟ve got pregnant women, surely ?pregnant women? advised to
take “folic acid”. Why should the rest of society have additives put in
when you know who to give it to?
Me I know the answer to that one. They reason why it‟s suggested is
that to get the effect of folic acid it‟s got to be taken pre-conceptually,
so before the baby‟s conceived. Only 10% of women will do that
when they‟re planning a child, even if the majority are told about it
and 50% of pregnancies are unplanned, so it‟s impossible to take it
pre-conceptually, so those are the two general reasons to do with
that. Have you got an opinion about whether those are good things
or bad things?
FG63 If we‟re looking at the whole thing dispassionately, 180 babies out of
600,000 - it‟s not a very high priority in my view.
Me That‟s fine. Your view is quite good for me. Any other views?
FG61 Presumably 50% of those are planned then 50% of those will not be
affected because the mother will have taken folic acid to start with, so
you‟re only talking about 50% of the mothers anyway.
Me May have taken it, most don‟t.
FG61 May, more likely to.
I would agree with you there, yeah.
FG65 There‟s not enough information to make the judgement because the
statement “this could lead some elderly people” - some - “getting
feelings of numbness” - what is that? - “in the arms and legs”. What
is happening to these people? How many elderly people percentage-
wise? What feelings of numbness do they get, how often does it
occur, is it there all the time, etc etc? There‟s a whole host of
problems there. Can that be quantified at all?
Me Not as accurately as maybe it should. I couldn‟t tell you off the top of
my head. The evidence for that is not firm, because they know it will
happen but they don‟t know whether it can be avoided.
FG61 In that case you shouldn‟t do it. You could have people say using
sharp knives and cutting themselves and having to be hospitalised.
Elderly people are bound to take longer to recover from injuries.
Another factor is that injuries are more likely to be of a severe nature
rather than a mild trauma. If they getting numbness in their feet they
could slip down steps, break a hip and I would say overall in that case
it shouldn‟t be done.
FG64 I think it‟s a question of proportion, it seems an awful lot for some 60
million all together for the sake of… course if you were a mother of
one of those children I‟d think that… but the proportion seems wrong
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to me, and then the risk to the elderly.
FG62 It is the proportion thing which is a bit out of kilter isn‟t it, because
most pregnant women have their foetuses scanned and you pick up
these things, pregnancies, presumably __ ?terminated foetuses? are
picked up, are they? And if they‟re counselled properly, that‟s
another way of dealing with it, but as you say peripheral neuropathy
in elderly can lead to a lot of morbidity
Me I think vitamin B12 deficiency is probably a relatively less common
cause. I can’t quantify it at all. The numbers are probably also very
small. It’s not a major cause like diabetes for example.
FG62 Yeah, I know, but it‟s symptomatic of the way governments seems to
think, pick up one thing and they don‟t really look into the details of
it. For these small numbers, it seems a bit excessive to make
everybody have another additive in their food.
Me Can I pick up something you mentioned about scans picking up
abnormalities? The other thing to mention is that first of all some
people think see the policy as important because it avoids
terminations of pregnancies, they see that as a plus, but the other
thing is that some miscarriages take place because the body realises
there‟s something wrong with the foetus, so miscarriages will be
reduced to a certain degree, but that certain degree, people don‟t
know what it is yet. It would be slightly larger in effect than 180
babies, but again I wouldn‟t be able to quantify that.
FG61 Again it would be a case really of those who are presenting
themselves as miscarriage cases, who would be advised by the doctor
in future, “it may be to prevent a miscarriage in the future, that you
should be taking this, that and the other. Presumably if a woman
suffered a miscarriage they are going to go to surgery anyway
whereas it may well be that other women don‟t attend surgery until
they are 13/14 weeks, which by that time it will be too late.
FG65 Are the long-term effects of folic acid in food known, other than
numbness in legs and arms? Are there any other?
BL It’s a natural, it’s in foliage and leaves or a leaf, it’s in vegetables, it’s
basically one of the vitamins like selenium. I think it doesn’t cause the
numbness, I think it masks the tests. So in fairness there’s no, in any
dose that you would give, there’s no negative, like vitamin C, a little
extra isn’t going to do you any harm.
Me I‟ve sort of condensed a 200 page report into 3 paragraphs, so I
apologise for that, but it was worse for me reading the 200 page
report. There is evidence of some other long-term effects, but as
with vitamins they‟re all positive. If there is a long-term effect, it‟s
actually on heart disease, it will reduce the incidence of heart disease,
but it‟s so “if”, “but”, “when”, “however” that I didn‟t think it worth
putting it in here, but potentially there are other positive spin-offs.
I‟ll leave it at that.
FG61 Can you get enough folic acid in a normal varied diet to make up for
any shortfall?
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Me As far as I understand it, it‟s almost impossible. You‟d be eating a lot
of broccoli, so even with a natural diet women are still recommended
to take iron supplements because you‟re not going to overdose on it.
Strangely, if you look at regional variations, the rates of neural tube
defects do vary by region and they think that is due to diet and the
way in which people cook vegetables in particular.
FG61 Does it vary through the world as well, are vegetarian countries and
people more inclined to be vegetarianism less likely to have it than
large meat eaters in New York?
Me I would suspect so, but I don‟t know the answer. The strange one
that I do know is there‟s a slightly higher rate in the Republic of
Ireland and I think it‟s down to the fact that they boil their vegetables
more. It‟s one of the explanations I heard. So diet does play a part,
but people are still recommended to take the tablet once a day.
BL The causes of all these sorts of conditions are quite complex, so you
won’t easily pick out one cause leading a variation. Sometimes there
will be lots of factors involved, so what happens in one country isn’t
that easy to compare with what happens in another.
Me So in general people are reasonably happy with urban speed limits,
potentially with a few alterations?
FG61 If it doesn‟t harm anybody, to reduce the speed limit, because you‟re
not actually having an effect on anybody at all including probably the
person going to work, is probably still going to arrive at work within 2
minutes of when he was going to arrive anyway when he was going
50, but fairly, completely different issue, because nobody actually has
to lose there. Whereas if you start putting in folic acid then you are
doing things in an underhand way that doesn‟t have great big signs or
whatever, buy your bread and it‟s folic acid in it, should have bread
that people want to buy that has got folic acid in it __ so it shouldn‟t
just added because the government __+
BL So just the fact that of the government telling you to slow down isn’t
?such? an issue for anyone
(Shakes of heads)
Me But you‟re generally sceptical of the second one? If you look at those
side by side, do you actually see anything in common between them
or are they completely separate issues?
FG61 Separate.
Me Why do you think they are separate?
FG65 As the lady said, there‟s no detrimental effect to a speed limit, there‟s
only advantages and in the second case there‟s both pros and cons,
and the cons don‟t seem to be too well known and that would be my
concern.
Me Any other opinions? Can you see any common links there?
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FG61 Government can still bag all the money and you can‟t do anything any
thing about it.
Me That is a common link, yeah, and it was deliberate. Any other
common links? Do you see these as the same, similar policies or
completely different?
FG63 They‟re different, I can‟t see any commonality.
Me Why do you think they‟re different?
FG63 I can‟t see any commonality at all.
Me That‟s fine, you don‟t have to.
FG63 I‟m not sure the first one will barely squeeze into public health, I
would have thought, road safety __
FG61 It only becomes a public health issue when that person‟s ?been
injured?
FG63 In terms of saving lives, then the reduction of the speed limit is going
to be better value for money. Well you got to put the costs in.
FG62 You save more than 74 lives a year by reducing the speed limit.
FG61 Got serious injuries and minor injuries to take into consideration as
well though, take time off work, because if they have been knocked
over and that kind of thing, costs of insurance.
Me I‟ve got one more for you then, the grand finale. This one is banning
smoking in public places.
Smoking Ban
FG64 It‟s true.
Me Is it true that that will happen or ?
FG64 I‟m sure it is yes.
Me But what do you think – good idea, bad idea, crazy idea?
FG65 Good idea. We‟ve learnt the lesson.
FG62 Think it‟s the single most important thing the government could do.
Excellent idea.
FG63 I‟m a smoker. At the end of the day it‟s going to happen anyway. Why
it hasn‟t happened already I don‟t know. Just come back from Italy
and I mean if Italy can do it, for goodness sake, we‟re next, and it‟s
working. I said it wouldn‟t work in Dublin when the Irish introduced it,
but it did.
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Me What do you mean by working? That people did stop?
FG63 Yes, in the bars, I never thought it stood a chance in Ireland. I was
over in Dublin for a weekend last year and it‟s working and I‟m just
back from Italy and it‟s working there. So be it, it‟s going to happen.
Me But would you be in favour of it? Do you think it‟s a good idea?
FG63 Well, it‟s such a minority at the end of the day that it‟s not going to
make any difference. I think the whole thing is, Britain‟s ruled on
political correctness and a load of facts, some of which are highly
suspect, especially in the field of passive smoking.
Me Okay. Any other views on this policy?
FG65 The sooner the better. As an ex-smoker, but as a smoker, let‟s go
from that scenario first, why should I inflict something onto someone
else just because I like smoking? I think it‟s terrible, so I don‟t
smoke. I welcome this proposal.
Me Okay. We usually get more discussion than this, people start arguing
with each other, but you‟re all agreeing with one another.
FG62 Well, it‟s obvious.
FG61 People know, it‟s like smoking on aeroplanes, in a very short time
people say, even if it‟s a long flight, even if you got an eight or nine
hour flight, it becomes a mindset I think, as you probably know, that
if you can‟t smoke you don‟t think about it. People will be sort of
lighting up in the areas before they get on the plane and as soon as
they get off the plane they got the packet out of their pockets and
they‟re flicking their lighters all ready to light up, but they know all
that time they‟re on the plane, they‟re not sort of making do with
dummies or anything like that, don‟t seem to be, just accept, a friend
of mine who is a smoker, you get on the plane, you don‟t think about
it because you can‟t smoke and that‟s it.
Me You say it‟s obvious, but we‟ve had other groups where we‟ve had
lifetime non-smokers saying it‟s a ridiculous idea, because I don‟t
want to stop people smoking when they want to.
FG62 People can smoke in private as long as they‟re not going to harm
anyone else.
FG61 I don‟t object to it in pubs, but I do object to it in restaurants and in
dining areas for the pubs where the smoke is coming across and I do,
well don‟t think they do it any more, but in Little Chefs and places like
that where they cordon off an area, and say “you may smoke in this
area” and you think what‟s the point in that because it‟s all drifting
across anyway. Absolutely no point. They usually just stick them by
the door, you just go out of the door the smoke actually comes back
into the rest of the restaurant. I‟ve got no problems with people if
they are walking along the streets and if they get rid of their cigarette
butts and dispose of them properly, instead of flicking them as you
see them by the bus stops and what have you. I don‟t have a problem
with people smoking in my presence. The only problem I have with it
is, probably explained, is that you get out of bed and you realise you
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hair stinks and you pillows stink and your clothes stink and you got to
have a shower before you go anywhere __+ night before you ?went
to bed?.
FG64 In the past, a lot of people smoked because it was the thing to do.
The old Prince of Wales was never seen without a cigarette drooping
from his lip. In the railway carriage, you could catch smoke, and lots
of people died, I often think that galloping consumption was probably
cancer of the lung, killed a tremendous number of people.
FG62 You‟ve got to think of the history of this because I gather, during the
war, military personnel encouraged to smoke, because it kept them
calm, did they get a special cigarette allowance?
FG64 You got 50 free cigarettes a week. Yes.
FG62 That was before the harmful effects were known and that now is… so
it‟s not only cancer, is it?
FG61 ?Knowledge? has been there a long time because the guy who just
died, Richard Donald is it, he‟s always been, interviewed about three
months before he died, we‟ve known about this since 1943 or
whatever. But the harmful effects cannot be denied, although people
who are smokers, as I say I have friends who smoke, and they are in
complete denial. “I have catarrh because of my next habit” or your
dad smoked as well, got something to do with it. Always got a cough
or I‟ve got a cold, yeah well you got a cough because you smoke.
Because you can‟t, friend of mine, particularly when she was in
hospital, she says “oh I can‟t stop coughing” I said that because it‟s
all the tar coming off your lungs and your lungs are finally able to
work properly. So a lot of people are in complete denial about that
anyway, about the effect that it‟s having on their health.
Me Okay, now you‟ve got three, this is going to get tricky with bits of
paper, so my question now to you is. In general, everyone‟s in
agreement so you‟re quite happy to say urban speed limits, no folic
acid and but to ban smoking.
FG63 They wouldn‟t have the guts!
Me No not the government, but in your own minds you‟re happy that the
Government can intervene to reduce speed, it can‟t intervene to put
folic acid in food and it can intervene to ban smoking in public places.
So you‟re quite happy with that?
FG61 It‟s not going to radically affect people by banning smoking, people
aren‟t going to say I need to have a cigarette. If I‟m not going to
smoke and all the rest of it I will have a headache for the rest of the
day. That‟s not going to happen because that‟s just ridiculous. If I
can‟t have a cigarette while I‟m having my drink I‟ll get the shakes or
my blood doesn‟t circulate as sluggishly as it should do. There will be
no complaints in a medical way whereas this thing on folic acid is
really an unknown quantity as far as quantifying goes.
FG62 In answer to your question, yes.
12
Me So yes, no, yes – there‟s no problem? O.k., final question: imagine
you do have to vote on these policies. What would be the two main
factors that would be going through your minds when you make a
decision? What would be the two factors that influence your vote?
What I‟m going to do now is go round you one at a time.
FG63 Am I an MP now?
Me Not what‟s popular, not allowed to say what‟s popular. What are the
two factors that you think would influence you with this.
FG63 We‟re talking about public health here? That‟s the main objective,
isn‟t it?
FG And these policies as well.
FG65 Banning smoking would be the most important of those three,
because it would have the most significant effect of the three, in my
opinion.
Me That‟s fine by me. You‟re next – what two factors that would be
buzzing around, if you had to vote.
FG61 The only thing is the fact that this is so well documented that the
costs, the savings, would be big once you had got everything in place,
whether it‟s cameras or speed bumps or something like that. Actually
the cost because, the fact that somebody may be knocked down and
not killed still means that they have costs to the health service
because they would still need, they will still need to be seen by x
number of people when they go to hospital, the will still need the
ambulance, they will still need all those things, and then maybe the
hospital stay as well. When they come home, they might need
physiotherapy. If they‟re a bit old they might need to be retrained
because they used to be a window cleaner and they can‟t do that
anymore. All these sorts of things are really quite high costs and we
don‟t have individual insurance and therefore it‟s a cost to society and
I think that cost-wise makes just so much sense, so that factor is
?crucial?
Me That would be one of the main factors in.
FG64 I think factor number one is simplicity in putting it into effect, and
factor number two getting the maximum gain for the least effort.
Me Next.
FG62 I‟m not quite sure, what you meant by the two factors that would
affect me in voting. I think what would give the maximum daily
health benefits to society, but I‟m also very conscious of not eroding
people‟s individual liberties, like making folic acid, because when all‟s
said and done, __+ I think saying an extra two minutes, going at 20
miles an hour instead of 50 is not significant but the folic acid thing is
a bit of an unknown quantity.
Me Okay, thank you.
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FG63 Costs and practicalities, practicalities ought to include, beneficial
potential.
Me That‟s good. Thank you for coming along.
Key
?word? Uncertain about word
___ Word inaudible
___+ Several words inaudible
(comment) Comment from notes for clarification
14
