Investing in illness prevention

With the publication of Prevention Is Better Than Cure in November (Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), 2018a), the government has placed the prevention of ill health at the core of its NHS long-term plan. The new policy intends to shift the focus of health management to primary and community care services, with a focus on the benefits of offering early support.

In the introduction to the initiative, Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock acknowledges the progress made in improving people's health and extending longevity. However, he highlights that too many people are living too long in ill health, which is preventable. The Health Secretary is adamant that prevention is better than cure.

Marcum (2004) pointed out that in modern western medicine the machine is the predominant model of the human body. In this mechanistic, or biomechanical model of medicine, the patient is reduced to individual body parts, much as a car engine is reduced to components by a mechanic. Today, many health professionals think it is more effective to prevent the engine (the human body) from breaking down in the first place and that prevention is crucial to improving the health of whole populations. However, such is the legacy of mechanistic medicine that in the UK £97 billion of public money is spent annually on treating disease versus just £8 billion on prevention (DHSC, 2018b).