The government has launched a new consultation on 'action to improve patients' health', which will feed into the production of a new White Paper this summer. Choosing health?[1]builds on government advisor Derek Wanless' new report Securing Good Health for the Whole Population[2] and seeks feedback from groups and individuals on ten key public health areas: accidents, alcohol misuse, diet, drugs, exercise, inequalities, mental health, obesity, sexual health and smoking.
Health Secretary John Reid claims that a healthier population could save £30bn a year in NHS spending and says the government needs to 'help people to make healthy choices by providing information, encouragement and support, and by working with the right partners at the right levels'. He wants to 'find the right balance, rejecting the nanny state, and the Pontius Pilate state, which washes its hands of its citizens' health'.[3]
Much of the consultation document is good common sense with the expected exception of condoms being advocated as the key solution to unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease.
This is a great opportunity for Christian doctors to get involved in an important public debate, and to advocate biblical and evidence-based solutions, rather than leaving a secular humanist agenda to impose itself by default. If merely a handful of Christian doctors submitted a few well worked paragraphs to answer questions in just one of the ten areas of concern it could make a huge difference.
Submissions close on 28 May and the consultation documents can be viewed and downloaded at www.dh.gov.uk
