Nation’s health focus ‘must shift from hospitals to lifestyle issues’

Britain is lagging behind much of Europe and the USA when it comes to healthy life expectancy, Public Health England chief executive Duncan Selbie said.

And Yorkshire fares even worse, with lives up to 10 years shorter in more deprived northern areas, he told voluntary sector organisation Involve Yorkshire and Humber’s annual policy conference.

“One reason we haven’t done so well is because we keep reorganising our services – we never leave anything alone for long enough,” he told delegates at the event at Wakefield Town Hall. “But the main reason is we are obsessed as a nation with hospitals. When we look at where are spending money as a nation, we put pretty much 80 per cent of what we are spending on health care into hospitals.

“When we think of health we think of the health service and when we think about good health we think about it as the absence of disease.

“But good health is much more to do with do you have a job, do you have enough money to live on and do you have somewhere to live – a decent home where you are not afraid to go out of the front door and can turn the heating on and still feed your family?

“If you look at what older people say they care about it is quite different to the professionals – it’s about companionship, still having goals in life and getting out.”

Increasing survival rates for conditions such as strokes, cardiovascular disease and cancers are all cause for celebration but, along with an ageing population, they present new challenges, he added.

“Fifty years ago it was about people dying from disease and now it’s about people living with it and living longer,” he said.

Charities and voluntary groups have a vital part to play in helping to fill the gap left by public sector cuts, he added.

“The voluntary sector employs more people, spends more money and has bigger capital assets than the health service,” he said.

“Yes, we have got less money but I’m going to argue we’ve got enough money – it’s how we choose to spend it.”