Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation

Preface

This White Paper sets out how we propose to save lives, promote healthier living and reduce inequality in health.

That will require action by Government, by local organisations and by individuals. Some of the factors which harm people's health are beyond the control of any single individual. Like air pollution, unemployment, low wages, crime and disorder, poor housing. So, in co-operation with local councils, the NHS, and local voluntary bodies and businesses, the Government must take action.

And we are - right across the board. Tackling joblessness through the New Deal, ending low pay through the National Minimum Wage, improving housing by our housing investment and energy saving programmes, reducing crime and disorder, reducing air and noise pollution and through modern transport policies. And that has been achieved only by a co-operative effort right across Government. We reject the view that nothing can be done to improve the health of the worst off.

But individuals too have a responsibility for their own health. Everybody should try to look after themselves better, by not smoking, taking more exercise, eating and drinking sensibly. It's not the Government's job to tell people what to do. It is the Government's job to spell out the facts and quantify the risks on which individuals can make informed decisions.

We have to do that in a much more effective way and to target most effort on the people and places that need it most. Campaigns to improve health must concentrate on the least healthy.

Everyone in the country is affected by this programme and we have to do our best to make sure that everyone is committed to it. That's the only way we can get things done - saving lives, improving health and reducing inequality.

TSO FRANK DOBSON