Tackling illness in the UK is key to economic growth, says the IPPR

Tackling Britain’s growing health crisis holds the key to further growth and the government needs to invest £15bn a year in a robust program of reforms designed to improve health and prosperity of the country, said one center expert.

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said the UK’s worsening standard of living is affecting labor supply, worsening productivity, holding back wages, draining public finances and increasing regional inequality.

The final report of the three-year health and productivity commission said that 900,000 people have lost their jobs as the epidemic will cost HMRC £5bn in lost revenue this year, while health will save the government £18bn a year by the mid-2030s.

The IPPR said: “The term ‘sick man of Europe’ is often used to describe countries in the midst of severe economic or social unrest. In Britain today, it has become more of a reality.

“We are underperforming our peers in health outcomes, the number of people with long-term conditions is increasing, and people are spending longer in poor health.”

The report – endorsed by the health and social care secretary, Wes Streeting – called:

• Higher taxes on tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food companies raise more than £10bn a year by the end of parliament.

• Free school meals for all primary school children, the lifting of the two-child benefit limit and the restoration of the Sure Start family support programme.

• The establishment of health promotion zones and efficiency with new energy and national investment to rebuild local health systems – such as swimming pools and green spaces – in areas with poor health a lot.

• “Right to try” for people with health or disability benefits – the government’s commitment to a new and guaranteed period in which people receiving benefits can “try” to work without risk of unemployment welfare or income level.

• A new “neighborhood health center” in every part of the country: a one-stop shop for diagnosis, primary care, mental health and community health with a focus to the ban.

The report said the UK should aim to move from a 20th century health system of sickness to a 21st century health system designed to improve health, which works in the same way and the “sickness service” provided by the NHS.

Among the leading industrialized countries in the G7, the UK ranked sixth for life expectancy, health costs and preventable death, and fifth for children living in relative poverty. More than a quarter of people were obese, six times higher than in Japan.

“The UK has a strong increase in the prevalence of many long-term conditions”, the report said. “This is not just about the aging of the population: indeed, children, young people and people of working age are also getting sick, as well as pensioners.”

The goal of the new “health victory” system will be to add 10 years to health expectancy by 2055 and reduce environmental inequality by half, the report said.

Streeting said he “valued working closely” with the IPPR commission and wanted to get the Department of Health and Social Care to improve economic growth, “because we can’t build a healthy economy without a healthy society”.

According to the IPPR report, if current trends continue, economic inactivity caused by illness could reach 4.3 million by the end of this parliament, up from 2.8 million now.

Dame Sally Davies, former chief medical officer for England and Wales, and co-chair of the IPPR commission, said: “I have long argued that health is the key to Britain’s largest, yet to be used for happiness, economic growth and national prosperity.

“This commission has now given irrefutable evidence that this is true. A government that wants to deliver growth, sustainable public services and justice across Britain needs to take notice. “