07.09.18
PHE chief executive Selbie on public health and care: ‘We cannot keep doing what we’ve always done’
The boss of Public Health England (PHE) outlined his thoughts behind social care and public health in the UK during an event yesterday, claiming that “we cannot keep doing what we’ve always done.”
Speaking at Health Expo 2018 in Manchester, chief executive Duncan Selbie noted that despite major progressions in English public health, such as world-leading HIV treatment, plummeting teenage pregnancy rates, and lower smoking rates, inequality around the country has led to a gulf in health between different societies.
Selbie said: “There’s something worth clocking that the poor today are enjoying the health of the affluent 20 years ago. Despite 40 years of a nationally-funded universal healthcare system, there’s been no shift at all over those years between the poor and the affluent about their health.
“This is not just a health issue for the individual and their families, but for the economy. I think the ambition is about how we use the NHS less, how we use it later in life, how we help people to stay well for longer, and when they’re not well, to stay in their own homes for longer. This is not just about the NHS.”
The PHE boss, who spoke about much the same thing to NHE earlier this year, added that health bosses are “missing the point” if they rely on technology innovation to relieve mounting pressures on social care in communities.
“If we continue to think about the next bit of technology or the next discovery, then we’re missing the point,” he told delegates. “The population is aged beyond our ability; we can’t just keep doing what we’ve always done.
“I’m trying very much to keep away from the 80% of things that matter much more than we do to good health— which is: do I have a job? Enough money to live on? Do I have somewhere to live, where it’s safe and warm and I’m not afraid to go out of the front door? Do I have friendship, companionship, and belonging? It’s not patients, it’s people.”
Selbie’s comments could offer a different perspective to social care compared to the government: during a Q&A session yesterday after a technology-inspired speech to delegates, health secretary Matt Hancock argued that embracing digital advancements would allow “some of the most intractable problems that face us in social care.”
“It’s not conditions, diseases, institutions, or proliferations, it’s people living in places — and it’s people with families,” said Selbie. “And the biggest determinant of outcome is not what we’re doing in a renal clinic but money in your pocket.”
Yesterday Hancock unveiled a £200m digital fund and five app trials, as he described the NHS’s IT systems as “stuttering” and argued that they are putting lives at risk.
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Image credit: Joe Giddens, PA Images