Healthier lives start beyond the NHS
Closing Britain’s health gap demands action beyond the NHS by creating better opportunities, healthier communities and a stronger focus on prevention from childhood onwards
This article has been funded by Health Equals, the UK’s campaign for tackling health inequalities
Britain has made substantial advances in healthcare over the years, but too many people are still living shorter, less healthy lives than they should. As Health Equals’ Shelf Life campaign so starkly illustrates, our life expectancy can vary significantly depending on where you live. In my own constituency of Gosport for example, there is a five year difference between the postcode with the highest and lowest life expectancy. Across the whole country, the gap is up to 18 years.
Some of the key reasons behind these disparities are evident in my constituency. Nearly 1,900 more households in Gosport are now relying on Universal Credit than two years ago. These are not just statistics; they represent real families facing rising costs and fewer opportunities.
Too many young people are struggling to find a route into productive work, with youth unemployment increasing by 23 per cent over the past two years, and Gosport has struggled to backfill the loss of high quality, skilled jobs that resulted from the declining presence of the defence industrial base in the community.
My constituents also regularly share concerns about housing conditions and tenant safety.
These challenges matter because they limit people’s ability to make the most of their talents and build the future they want for themselves. When people are held back by poor health or a lack of opportunity, they are less able to realise their potential.
Too often, conversations about health focus too heavily on the NHS. The NHS will always be there, but health is affected by far more than the treatment we receive when we become ill. It’s about our opportunities to eat well, travel actively, find rewarding work, and feel connected to our local communities.
The evidence is also clear that despite record NHS spending, healthy life expectancy is declining, and rates of obesity, diabetes and poor mental health are all on the rise.
We cannot afford to continue in this way, and we need to start having broader conversations about what helps people build healthy, successful lives.
We must also think more ambitiously about prevention. In my work chairing the Culture, Media and Sport Committee I have called for a cross-government strategy to get the nation moving again. This should begin with ensuring every child has the best possible start in life, including family hubs and physical education as we l l as academic learning.
Then we need to consider how to help young people find fulfilling careers, as good work is more than just a pay packet. It offers purpose and dignity, and reduces the risk that people become trapped on long-term welfare dependency.
By uniting health, education and community policies around the shared objective of increasing physical activity and widening participation in both community and school sport, we can deliver the active, healthier nation that we so desperately need. Doing so would also provide many economic and societal benefits, from helping to reduce levels of obesity in children and young people, to strengthening the workforce by supporting people to recover from and manage physical and mental illness.
It is exactly this kind of thinking and action that is needed to restore the health and prosperity of the nation.
To check the life expectancy in your postcode, visit www.healthequals.org.uk. To find out more, email [email protected].
