British people must take more responsibility for their own health, says Matt Hancock
2 min read
People must take more responsibility for the state of their health, according to Matt Hancock.
Setting out his long-term strategy for the NHS, the Health Secretary will say citizens should assess whether they need to reduce their food and alcohol consumption.
In a speech to the International Association of National Public Health Institutes, Mr Hancock will say: "It's about people choosing to look after themselves better, staying active and stopping smoking. Making better choices by limiting alcohol, sugar, salt and fat…
"It's about helping them make better choices, giving them all the support we can, because we know taking the tough decisions is never easy.”
The new drive also aims to to halve childhood obesity by 2030, reduce loneliness and speed up cancer diagnoses.
Mr Hancock will add: “We are spending £97 billion on treating disease and only £8 billion preventing it.
“You don’t have to be an economist to see those numbers don’t stack up.
“A focus on prevention and predictive medicine isn’t just the difference between life and death, it’s the difference between spending the last 20 years of your life fit and active or in constant pain from a chronic condition.
“So our focus must shift from treating single acute illnesses to promoting the health of the whole individual.”
But Simon Capewell, a professor of public health and policy at Liverpool University, told The Guardian: "We must recognise the huge power of our lived environment, and avoid naively just focusing on ‘personal responsibility’ and ‘individual choices’. People do not ‘choose’ obesity or diabetes or cancer. They have just been overwhelmed by a toxic environment."
Meanwhile, Mr Hancock will also say that the NHS will follow in the footsteps of tech giants like Facebook and Google to use personal data to target patients.
The new measures will use people’s digital footprints to provide them with specific health information based on class, lifestyle, location and even genetic make-up.
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