Scarlett McNally: Challenging the government’s new strategic framework for maȷor conditions

The Department of Health and Social Care’s new Major Conditions Strategy1 starts strongly, detailing how the nation’s health has deteriorated and the large volume of ill health looming. Unfortunately, it follows this with recommendations entirely focused on rearranging health services, not making society healthier.The evidence base is stunning. The strategy includes over 230 references and footnotes cataloguing the long term impact of common conditions—especially multiple comorbidities—on patients, society, and the economy. Nearly half a million more people are economically inactive from long term sickness than before the pandemic.2 The strategy acknowledges that over 40% of the burden of ill health is attributable to identified risk factors: tobacco smoking, obesity and diet related factors, low physical activity, pollution, and alcohol.3 Health inequalities are detailed in the strategy, including a 19 year difference in years of good health between people in the most and least socially deprived areas of the UK.4Unfortunately, the…
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