Tackling UK ill health is vital to economic growth—It's time for radical reform
18 September 2024, 13:41
Ill-heath is continuing to hamper our economy. In fact, it has broken our economy and is driving our cost-of-living crisis.
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The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has said the UK’s worsening health is affecting the supply of workers, worsening productivity, holding back pay, damaging the public finances and adding to regional inequality.
This is unsurprising and points to a pattern of factors and consequences, illustrated across the think tank’s reports on health and prosperity from the last three years.
To put this into numbers, the IPPR said the 900,000 people lost to the labour force since the pandemic would cost HMRC £5bn in lost revenue this year, while better health would save the government £18bn a year by the mid-2030s.
The IPPR is calling for the Government to invest £15bn a year on a radical programme of reforms designed to improve wellbeing and national prosperity, spotlighting that tackling Britain’s growing ill-health crisis holds the key to increasing growth.
This should be a no brainer for the Government and yet, policymakers have a frightening lack of urgency on the issue.
I strongly support the recommendation laid out by the IPPR, including higher taxes on tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food companies to raise more than £10bn a year by the end of the parliament and free school meals for all primary schoolchildren.
Obesity erodes our national prosperity. There are 3,000 hospital omissions a day linked to obesity, double the number from six years ago, and still rising. This costs the hard-pressed NHS £6bn a year, and a lot more to taxpayers in welfare bills and to families in misery.
As such, the consequences for the UK economy are devastating. Recent analysis from the Tony Blair Institute shows the annual cost of obesity is £63.1 billion for individuals, £19.2 billion for the NHS, and £15.6 billion for broader society. This financial burden is due to the loss of productivity caused by individuals being too unwell to work.
Concern amongst constituents about our state of health is rising and support for strong measures is emphatic.
This isn’t a call for increased investment in the same model and policies. Instead, we need investment in a new health system, one that is modelled on prevention, upheld through policy and informed by an enhanced ONS Health Index.
We need to move from a reactive, sickness-oriented 20th century healthcare system into a proactive 21st-century system designed to improve health outcomes and the economy.
The writing is on the wall when it comes to the health and productivity of the nation, laid out by the IPPR with evidence and recommendations. We cannot physically and financially afford to hit another brick wall in the quest for better health. It’s not just the UK people’s eyes on the Government, it’s our peers on the world stage.
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Lord James Bethell was a former health Minister under Boris Johnson and is now Chair of Business for Health
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