A report led by Lord Filkin, with support from the King’s Fund, is calling for a Covenant for Health commanding “resilient” cross-party commitment to “build a healthier nation over a generation, robust enough to sustain across government”.
With the UK ranking among the worst populations for health in Europe, the report concludes that there is an opportunity to make “significant” improvements to the health of the UK population within five to 10 years, “benefiting millions of people, society, our economy and our health systems”.
It also urged a significant overhaul in the way HM Treasury viewed the health of the nation and demanded political leadership from the prime minister and chancellor.
The report sets goals within five years to:
- Help three million people quit smoking, halving the UK smoking rate
- Help four million people avoid becoming obese
- Help at least four million to be more active
- Help more children to be physically and mentally healthy, with fewer at risk of obesity
- Reduce the 30,000 deaths a year from poor air quality
- Help five million people to reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease, which is still 24% of all deaths
- Help the people and places where health is worst.
In order to help achieve these goals the report calls for a Covenant for Health; “a resilient cross-party commitment to build a healthier nation, and to develop partnerships for health with business, local authorities, and key charity groups”.
The report concludes the “agenda of change should also be affordable; the costs are small compared to the growth of the NHS’s budget and they would be born across society as well as by government.
“The benefits would be great,” it added.
“A new government should move fast, define early what it wants to achieve, prepare for it, legislate, if needed, and make difficult changes early.”
The report was led by Lord Geoffrey Filkin with professor Kate Ardern, Lord James Bethell, David Buck of The King’s Fund, Dr Paul Corrigan, former health adviser to No 10, professor Sian Griffiths; and professor David Halpern, Behavioural Insights Team, with project support from The King’s Fund.