I wouldn’t go as far to say that the Government don’t encourage healthy eating or exercise. As part of his statement, Jeremy Hunt says “the best person to prevent a long term condition developing is not the doctor – it’s you”, hence the incentives in dealing with the problems after the fact.
However, what disappoints me in this particular speech is the complete lack, in fact the utter failure to mention education and trying to break hereditary attitudes to health. Yes smoking still costs us financially and in life expectancy but less people are smoking now. Why? 50-60 years ago it was fashionable, the consequences were not as well understood. You can’t eradicate it overnight as it’s an addiction and what of those children who grew up in a smoky house where it was the norm to smoke? My daughter’s 17 and smoking is extremely “un-cool” amongst children now. Give it another 30/40 years and there will be a significant change.
You have to apply the same logic to other health problems such as obesity. The change in society is there for all to see: more sedentary, more junk food, more cheaply manufactured food, more time consuming social media type activities and devices, easy credit etc etc. As alluded to above, some of these things really have become the norm in the last 30 years. I can’t see how else this Government can hope to tackle it unless they are educating our kids as they will spawn the next generation. Whatever they do after the fact, be it incentivise certain drugs or gym referrals, it’s shutting the gate after the horse has bolted. It’s reactive policy and not proactive.
