How preventive healthcare could save the NHS – lessons from Finland, Japan and Singapore
If it’s true that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, preventive healthcare might really save the embattled NHS – now celebrating its 75th anniversary.
- If it’s true that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, preventive healthcare might really save the embattled NHS – now celebrating its 75th anniversary.
- By promoting healthy lifestyles, early disease detection and timely treatment, the NHS could reduce chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
How?
- Finland, meanwhile, has one of the lowest rates of cardiovascular disease in Europe, which has been attributed to the country’s comprehensive preventive healthcare initiatives.
- The number of smokers among Finnish adults has decreased significantly over the past few decades, thanks to government policies that discourage smoking.
- It also has one of the lowest death rates from cardiovascular diseases in the world.
How much?
- In the three countries mentioned, there have been very few studies on the economic impact of their preventive healthcare programmes.
- In Finland, there is good evidence of the effectiveness of the Tobacco Act and cancer screening programmes on health, but the impact on healthcare expenditure is unclear.
- In Singapore, the government frequently holds question-and-answer sessions on the costs of preventive healthcare and the impact of these programmes.
Measure, measure, measure
Maybe there’s something more the UK can learn from Japan, Finland and Singapore: if you’re going to invest in prevention, you need comprehensive measures of their effectiveness and efficiency. So what should the UK measure? Assuming the goal of such a programme is to help people feel better while reducing NHS costs, the following would be useful things to track.
And, most importantly, this information should be collected at the patient level to better measure the effects and to understand engagement with the programmes. Because an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure only if it’s true for each of us.