Press Story

Leading figures from health, politics and wider society propose most ambitious blueprint for the nation's health since the Beveridge report

Boosting health after years of going into reverse should be a top priority to drive economic growth, report urges

A comprehensive plan for a modern 21st century health creation system has been unveiled today in a major report aimed at kick starting a once-in-a-generation rethink of national health policy, to revitalise both wellbeing and the UK economy.

IPPR’s cross-party Commission on Health and Prosperity – chaired by top surgeon Lord Ara Darzi and Professor Dame Sally Davies, former chief medical officer for England - has concluded its almost three-year enquiry into the interaction between health and the economy.

Its sweeping final report comes as austerity and Covid have left the UK the literal sick man of Europe – with long-term health conditions rising, healthy life expectancy stagnating, economic inactivity increasing, a growing mental health crisis, and regional health inequalities intensifying. Among its stark findings, the Commission reveals that almost 1,600 fewer infants would have died between 2020 and 2022, if improvements in infant mortality had continued at the same rate as between 2001 and 2015.

The Commissioners – who include Andy Burnham, Manchester mayor and a former health secretary, and Lord James Bethell, a former Conservative health minister - find that the UK’s worsening public health crisis is linked to our faltering economic performance. They say that better health is the most important medicine our economy needs for the faster growth that the new government has identified as one of its five key missions.

The final report from the Commission – which comes the week after Lord Ara Darzi’s review into the state of the NHS commissioned by the government – conducted new analysis which shows health could solve many of Britain’s most pressing economic challenges, including low growth and productivity. New findings include:

If trends continue, economic inactivity due to sickness could hit 4.3 million by the end of this parliament, up from 2.8 million today. As of the end of 2023, an estimated 900,000 extra workers are missing from work.

These 900,000 missing workers could mean an estimated £5bn in lost tax receipts in 2024, while better population health could save the NHS £18bn per year by the mid-2030s.

Some occupations – including elementary occupations, and caring, leisure and service roles - have seen particularly high rates of workers becoming inactive due to sickness. The rate of inactivity due to sickness is highest among the working age populations of Northern Ireland, the North East and Wales.

The Commission, which began working in early 2022 and was first to identify economic inactivity due to sickness as a major post-pandemic challenge, has concluded that better health is Britain’s greatest untapped path to prosperity.

At the core of the Commission's recommendations is to move from a reactive, sickness orientated 20th century healthcare system into a proactive 21st century health creation system, working in parallel to the NHS’ ‘sickness service’.

The tenth and final output from the Commission sets out its bold plan to move beyond only intervening when people get sick, towards a system which creates good health in all realms of life - including work, school and home.

The overarching goal for the health creation system would be to add 10 years to healthy life expectancy by 2055 and to halve regional health inequalities.

To do that, the Commission sets out an “oven-ready” first parliament policy programme for the new government’s health mission – covering a bold new childhood health programme, a comprehensive health industrial strategy to penalise polluters and support innovators, nationwide restoration of critical community infrastructure, higher standards for health at work and more integrated health and employment support services. Specific proposals include:

Tax health polluters: including tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food companies to raise over £10billion per year by the end of the parliament, which could fund new good health schemes such as a fresh fruit and vegetable subsidy

Establish ‘Health and Prosperity Improvement (HAPI) zones’: modelled on Clean Air Zones, with new powers and national investment to rebuild local health infrastructure – such as swimming pools and green spaces – in the most health-deprived areas

A ‘right to try’ for people on health or disability benefits: an ironclad government commitment of a guaranteed period where people in receipt of benefits can ‘try’ work with no risk to welfare status or award level, lasting months, for everyone with a long-term condition or disability, regardless of what other reforms to health benefits look like

A new ‘neighbourhood health centre’ in every part of the country: a one-stop shop for diagnostics, primary care, mental health and public health with a focus on prevention

Create a new health index: Like GDP, the health index will provide a snapshot of how the nation's health is changing - in a single number - to help monitor progress

The Commission also proposes a ‘new beginning’ for childhood health. New IPPR analysis finds that there has been a substantial decline in childhood health over the last decade – meaning thousands more infant deaths, tens of thousands more children with obesity and hundreds of thousands more young people with health conditions than had stagnation continued.

The report argues this constitutes a breakdown in children’s ‘health inheritance’ – and is the first time in around 200 years that a generation is not guaranteed to live a much longer, healthier life than that that came before it.

To get children’s health back on track, the Commission proposes a future generation health plan including universal free school meals, restoration of Sure Start and an end to the Two Child Limit. Just as education is seen as an investment in children’s wellbeing today and economic prospects tomorrow, so should childhood health be seen as key to our long-term economic outcomes, the report contends.

Wes Streeting, the secretary of state for health and social care, will be speaking at the IPPR Commission on Health and Prosperity Commission final report launch event on Wednesday 18th September in Westminster.

Lord Ara Darzi, former health minister and co-chair of the Commission on Health and Prosperity said:

"Our Commission was among the first to identify the rising sickness as a major and immediate post-pandemic fiscal challenge. Now, as the government sets up its health mission, our final report provides a ready made policy vision for a new approach to public health."

Dame Sally Davies, former chief medical officer for England and Wales, a co-chair of the Commission, said:

“I have long argued that better health is Britain's greatest, untapped resource for happiness, economic growth and national prosperity. This commission has now provided the irrefutable evidence that this is true. A government that wants to deliver growth, sustainable public services and fairness throughout Britain needs to take note.

“One of the most impactful choices they could make is to prioritise a new beginning on childhood health. No one would question that education is both about a child's immediate wellbeing and their long-term economic prospects. The same is true for health. We simply should not tolerate decline in our children's health any longer - it is time for bold action to ensure a health inheritance for future generations.”

Lord James Bethell, former health minister and commissioner, said:

"For too long, the default political answer to this country's health crisis has been more of the same: more doctors, more hospitals, rinse and repeat. This Commission now proves that disease and bankruptcy beckon if we unthinkingly continue with this ineffective approach.

"It's time to think differently. There is no more exciting vision for the future of Britain than in the reform agenda put forward by this report. It's time for a new health policy where we all play our part - businesses, employers, investors, individuals, communities and families alike."

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester and member of the Commission on Health and Prosperity, said:

“As the report concludes, we will never to be able to treat our way to a healthier nation. The time has come for the UK to become much more serious about prevention.

“Devolution in England is the game-changer we need to make this possible and improve the health of the nation. Combined authorities are breaking down the Whitehall silos and piloting new whole-person, whole-places approaches to health creation.

“The single biggest thing we could do to improve public health would be to give all people the foundation of a good, secure home. That, coupled with an overhaul of the benefits system to make it a positive Live Well service, could save the NHS billions. Greater Manchester is ready to pilot this new approach as part of the recommendation for health and prosperity improvement zones.”

Chris Thomas, head of IPPR’s Commission on Health and Prosperity, said:

“We are not the first generation to face a reckoning with our health. Indeed, one of Britain’s proudest legacies is its history of bold action on health crises. The Victorian answered infectious disease outbreaks with sanitation, slum clearance and worker rights. Post-war, we answered rising acute need by extending universal healthcare coverage.

“In 2024, we face a health crisis just as pronounced – with unthinkable human and economic cost. We have set out to find an answer just as bold as those that came before it. Founding a health creation system is a way to fundamentally reimagine health policy – fit for the 21st century.”

ENDS

Chris Thomas, head of the IPPR Commission on Health and Prosperity and Harry Quilter-Pinner, IPPR executive director, are available for interview.

Commissioners including Dame Sally Davies, Andy Burnham and Lord James Bethell may be available for interview on request

CONTACT

David Wastell, Director of News and Communications: 07921 403651 d.wastell@ippr.org

Liam Evans, Senior Digital and Media Officer: 07419 365334 l.evans@ippr.org

Georgia Horsfall, Digital and Media Officer: 07931 605737 g.horsfall@ippr.org

NOTES TO EDITORS

The IPPR paper, Our greatest asset: The final report of the IPPR Commission on Health and Prosperity, will be published at 0001 on Tuesday September 17. It will be available for download at: http://www.ippr.org/articles/o...
Advance copies of the report are available under embargo on request
The Commission was among the first to identify the post-pandemic challenge of economic inactivity due to sickness in early 2022: ippr.org/articles/a-healthy-labour-market and https://www.ippr.org/articles/health-and-prosperity
Adding 10 years to healthy life expectancy by 2055 would mean matching the best improvements in healthy life expectancy seen in any comparable country in modern history.
To estimate the fall in infant mortality, we took the difference between the infant mortality rate in 2020-2022 and what we would have expected the rate to have been if the trend from 2001-2003 and 2013 - 2015 had remained.
Our estimate that 900,000 additional workers were missing from work due to sickness at the end of 2023 is based on the difference between the number of working age people who were inactive sick at that time, and the number who would have been inactive sick had the pre-pandemic downward trend continued (using ONS seasonally adjusted monthly estimates).
Our estimate that 4.3 million workers could be inactive sick by the end of the parliament (2029) is based on an extrapolation of the post-pandemic trend in the inactivity rate revealed by the Labour Force Survey and ONS population forecasts.
Our estimate of lost tax receipts is based on OBR calculation of lost tax per worker dropping out of the labour market due to ill health
The IPPR Commission on Health and Prosperity is the UK’s biggest enquiry into the interaction between our health and the economy. Launched in 2022, the Commission has undertaken almost three years of deliberative research, quantitative analysis and policy development. Our commissioners are drawn from the best health and economic minds. Our co-chairs are Dame Sally Davies (former CMO for England) and Lord Ara Darzi (former health minister and currently undertaking an independent investigation of the NHS). The Commission is cross-party, with Mayor Andy Burnham and Lord James Bethell involved. Other Commissioners include leading policy advisors for previous prime ministers (Matthew Taylor, John Godfrey), leading academics (Professors Clare Bambra and Simon Wren-Lewis), the first ever Future Generations Commissioner (Sophie Howe) and business leaders (CBI, CEO of Impact Investing Institute). There is currently no other health programme more influential with government – with ideas drawn from the Commission into Labour’s programme including the Neighbourhood NHS, weekend/evening elective procedures, prioritisation of the life sciences and reorientation of DHSC around economic growth.
IPPR (the Institute for Public Policy Research) is an independent charity working towards a fairer, greener, and more prosperous society. We are researchers, communicators, and policy experts creating tangible progressive change, and turning bold ideas into common sense realities. Working across the UK, IPPR, IPPR North, and IPPR Scotland are deeply connected to the people of our nations and regions, and the issues our communities face. We have helped shape national conversations and progressive policy change for more than 30 years. From making the early case for the minimum wage and tackling regional inequality, to proposing a windfall tax on energy companies, IPPR’s research and policy work has put forward practical solutions for the crises facing society. www.ippr.org