The Labour Government wants to shift the NHS from “analogue to digital” and from “treatment to prevention”.
The PM, Keir Starmer, in a speech on the NHS at the King’s Fund, said: “The NHS is uniquely placed for the opportunities of big data and predictive and preventative medicine”, and ”we’ve got to be much bolder in moving from sickness to prevention”,
The rapid-fire Darzi report said it had diagnosed the NHS woes, and Darzi wrote in the Guardian that he had now found the cure: a “pivot to prevention”.
All of this has impressed the Rt Hon Wes Streeting. The new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care at the Institute for Public Policy Research said: “We will publish a 10-year plan early next year that will set out how we deliver three big shifts in the focus of the NHS: from analogue to digital, hospital to community, and sickness to prevention.”
Speaking at the Labour Party conference this week, Streeting said, “Without action on prevention, the NHS will be overwhelmed.” He’ll be “going hell for leather” to enact the changes.
Yet the prevention mantra is a familiar line for a Health Secretary to trot out.
Here at the Trust the Evidence office we thought we would ask how common the prevention mantra is amongst the 13 Health Secretaries we’ve had since 2000.
As it turns out, prevention is a go-to line for all Health Secretaries (See the PDF for the table of statements).
It was a favourite strategy for the Labour Government until 2010. Alan Milburn said: “The NHS will be able to make further progress still by focusing not just on further advances in treatment — through faster waiting times and new drugs —but also on prevention.” John Reid said there would be an emphasis on prevention rather than just cure if Labour retained power.
The party did retain power. In 2007, Patricia Hewitt published ‘Our Health, Our Care, Our Say: A New Direction for Community Services’. Guess what? “Better prevention now will avoid costly illnesses later.” Alan Johnson replaced her in the Health Secretary merry-go-round, and guess what? “The health service would put greater emphasis on prevention of illness,” he said.
Andy Burnham took up the reins as the Labour term of office ended. He must have had the same advisors as he told the news: “For the NHS, that is the direction it’s got to go – a prevention service to keep people healthy in the first place.” The case for investment in preventive care was “cast-iron”.
When the Conservatives came to power, they were also quick to the mark regarding prevention. Andrew Lansley said: “But as well as re-focusing the treatment side of healthcare, we need to do far more on prevention.”
In 2013, the DHSC published ‘Living Well for Longer: A Call to Action’ to reduce avoidable premature mortality. And guess what? “If we are to tackle the challenge we face, we need to make improvements across the three domains of prevention, early diagnosis and treatment.” When I’m a celebrity, Matt Hancock came into the job he was also a prevention disciple as he made prevention one of his earliest priorities for the NHS and social care, publishing the ‘Prevention is better than cure: our vision to help you live well for longer’ plan.
As the Tories went into meltdown, they had a raft of Health Secretaries. However, all of them were able to get in on the prevention act. Javid delivered a white paper that championed health and well-being as a real priority and greatly emphasised prevention. Barclay (who did the job twice) showed his direction of travel — you guessed it — prevention.
Therese Coffey – who was only on the job for about 30 days, still managed to say that “prevention is, of course, at the heart of what we do so that people do not need to turn to the health service at all for treatment”. Finally, Streeting’s predecessor, Victoria Atkins, was gung-ho for more – guess what – prevention. “There is, of course, one topic fundamental to my plan to reform the NHS to make it faster, simpler and fairer – and that is prevention,” she said.
So when Streeting gets up and emphasises more prevention, you may want to ask how this differs from all those who have gone before him and whether they all have the same advisors and speech writers to hand.
Streeting said he “won’t let us down” at this week’s conference. There’ll be more “preventive, personalised and precision medicine for the many”. And when the next Health Secretary replaces Streeting, can you guess his or her priorities?
This post was written by two old geezers who have seen 20 Health Secretaries come and go while in the NHS. Next up?
Dr. Carl Heneghan is the Oxford Professor of Evidence Based Medicine and Dr. Tom Jefferson is an epidemiologist based in Rome who works with Professor Heneghan on the Cochrane Collaboration. This article was first published on their Substack, Trust The Evidence, which you can subscribe to here.
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So objective biological truth is important when it comes to ethnic identification but not sexual identification? How was she “outed”? Perhaps one of her siblings got results from DNA testing and said, “Hey, wait a minute, sis.” Never underestimate the power of sibling rivalry!
I identify as a beneficiary of a trust with billions of investments but I haven’t had any money yet.
How come?
You forgot to answer the e-mails from Nigeria.
Haha, love this ( including video with James Corbett, 24mins ) and I especially love Bob’s cartoon. I’m digging the fact I’m not alone in clocking those dreadful sausage fingers! He’s really not popular at all is he? I know that even anti-monarchists when the Queen was alive wouldn’t have treat her in this fashion, the shouts and pelting with eggs. The monarchy basically died with her as far as I’m concerned. Hopefully it’s not a case of ”long live the King”. I’ve had more than enough of him already.
”I wonder how many of the naïve, moronic NPCs in “Normieland” have any clue about the truth as they clap or bang their pans or whatever dumb-arse act of servitude they’ve been programmed to do today?
Oh year, swearing out loud, or something? I think even I can manage that!
If you haven’t worked it out yet, all these things are connected – COVID, “climate change”, CBDCs… The smart ones are well-prepared for what comes next.
So, rather than “Meet King Charles”, meet King Sausage Fingers I instead – the inbred, pedo-loving, WEF puppet who is really Britain’s next Head of State.”
https://metatron.substack.com/p/not-my-king
I have to say I was disappointed by this offering from Joel Smalley. I know what he means and have been aware of all Charlie’s New- age twittery over the decades. I know Charles is a bit of a pillock but somehow cannot quite sign up to the nastiness implied in the Corbett report and Bob’s cartoon.
Maybe it’s the obstinate church-goer in me but this was just horrible and I want nothing to do with it. It pains me to write this because I’m as big an objector to the current madness as anyone here (and I have the worn shoe leather and ruined fingernails from posting leaflets to prove it).
There has to be a way to win our case without descending to this level.
Yes Jane, it seems the monarchy is quite the contentious subject. I was always very pro when the Queen was alive ( admittedly I was very ignorant about the history of the royal family tbh ) but with Charles we have a completely different kettle of fish and he is not a likeable chap, due to all that we know about him both historically and his visions for the future. In fact, I’ve disliked him since his marriage to Diana went down the pan and all the facts that were subsequently revealed around that particular subject.
However, with my above post I am taking a leaf out of the resident Jeremy Clarkson Fanclub’s book, and if they can defend him for wishing Meghan whatserface would walk down the street naked and have poo chucked at her then I shall defend the hideous portrait of Charles by Bob, in all of its beautiful originality and attention to detail.
I don’t see Bob’s cartoon as nasty.
It harks back to many 18th/19th century cartoons of previous Monarchs who thoroughly deserved to be lampooned.
I’m just slightly surprised Bob left out any reference to Charles’ WEF/Net Zero obsession.
Why does it matter? She identified as one. If people have a problem with that, it tells us more about them and their extremist prejudices than anything. I myself identify as a black veteran astronaut of 178 Apollo missions.
Sometimes I feel like identifying as a Tourettes sufferer just to see what it takes to get banned…
Firkin hell Mogs.
And I don’t know if anyone’s seen this video yet of a soldier at Cardiff castle collapsing today, but it definitely isn’t ”fainting”, not that I’ve ever witnessed anyway. Usually people regain consciousness as soon as they hit the deck but this guy stays completely out for the count, as you can see by his lack of movement or tension in his body as they drag him away. And no I’m not suggesting the you-know-what did it, but I would like to hear some follow up on how this guy’s doing. Any updates would be appreciated. They didn’t even check his breathing.
https://theglobalherald.com/news/soldier-faints-during-coronation-ceremony-at-cardiff-castle/
I don’t know what caused this soldier to collapse but I do know from personal experience that when a person faints, they don’t necessarily regain consciousness when they hit the ground, they can be unconscious for a few minutes after they faint.
What if she had said she identifies as Mohawk?
EDIT can’t get out of the habit of commenting before reading the comments
I identify as no one but myself
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I’m struggling to understand the difference between identifying as something you clearly aren’t, and being a delusional fantasist.
Still ….. we have learned something: apparently it’s OK for someone who is clearly male to announce they’re really a woman. But it’s not OK for someone who may (or may not) have a few Native American genes to decide that they have that ancestry.
So I guess any idea that I (who looks female, white with freckles and red hair) can identify as a black man wouldn’t be acceptable. But I could identify as a man?
Is that right?
Fortunately, I’m not a delusional fantasist.
Did you here about the bloke who identified as a pair of curtains.. the shrink told him to pull his-self together..