The_Guardian_-_2016-12-29

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Health
A health policy is more than NHS spending
Leeds General Infirmary. ‘A policy on health service spending is meaningless without a policy on
health creation,’ writes Dr Sebastian Kraemer. Photograph: Lynne Cameron/PA
Letters
Wednesday 28 December 2016 18.07 GMT Last modified on Wednesday 28 December 2016
22.00 GMT
A policy on health service spending (Labour calls for OBR-style watchdog to assess NHS finances,
28 December) is meaningless without a policy on health creation. Most diseases are not random.
Your chances of getting ill or dying are greatly increased by social and psychological adversity, some
of which is preventable by early intervention. This means massive public investment in
comprehensive perinatal health, in paid parental leave, children’s centres and early years education.
But also the recognition that insecurity – especially in housing and employment – damages health
through the physical stress it causes. Michael Marmot’s book The Health Gap (2015) chronicles this
data in readable detail. NHS funding cannot be taken out of politics because its costs depend so much
on the impact of other policies, especially those that aggravate inequalities. The Labour party knows
this but must demonstrate that in its policy proposals.
Dr Sebastian Kraemer
London
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