As in many other Western countries, UK health policy has tended to focus on sickness rather than on public health. The NHS has traditionally been a service structured to treat illness, rather than to foster its prevention. However, there are encouraging signs that this is beginning to change, not least with debate now focusing on the role of government, advertising, producer industries and other parties in shaping people’s attitudes to their own health and, ultimately, their behaviour.
This publication, the result of a conference convened by the Social Market Foundation in June 2006, brings together some of the most expert and considered voices in the field to explore the contentious issues around the major themes dominating the health policy debate.
This publication is supported by Lloyds Pharmacy and The Portman Group.
