NHS faces uphill battle in prevention – survey

A new survey has revealed confusion amongst the UK public on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle, suggesting the NHS has a long way to go to meet its goal of more disease prevention. The survey, commissioned by Sanofi, reveals that while just over half (52%) of people think they lead a healthy lifestyle, around one quarter of those don’t think it is necessary to stop smoking (24%), drink less than the recommended amount (27%) or get the right amount of exercise (28%) to maintain their healthy lifestyle. The French pharma firm said that the results “reveal the scale of the preventative healthcare challenge in the UK”, particularly in the context of the new NHS Long Term Plan, which puts prevention at the heart of a sustainable NHS.
“Whilst individuals widely acknowledge their responsibility in maintaining good health, in many cases, people are still not in agreement about how to maintain that health,” said Hugo Fry, Sanofi UK’s managing director. Only 24% of eligible people said they would get the over 40s NHS Health Check “in order to reduce the burden on the NHS”. In addition, just over a third of respondents (36%) said they would get the flu jab to keep themselves healthy.