Skip to content
Briefing

Tackling the biggest risk factors affecting people’s health

A general election priority

Authors

As political parties prepare for the general election, The King’s Fund has identified three priorities where national action from a future government will help ‘fix’ the NHS and social care and improve people’s health. These are:

This briefing focuses on how to tackle the biggest risk factors affecting people’s health.

Summary

Many people in England are unhealthy and their health is getting worse. A healthy economy requires a healthy population. Whether looking at life expectancy, levels of long-term ill health, inequalities, mental health or the drivers of poor health (such as obesity), England performs poorly when compared to peer countries. Tackling the poor health of the nation is not the job of the NHS alone; there is a broad consensus that improving people’s health depends on a wider range of policies in areas such as housing, the environment and employment. If the next government wants to improve health and prevent people dying early, it should create an approach to improving health that spans all government departments, includes actions to reduce health inequalities, and implements measures that help people to make healthier choices.

What’s the problem?

What can national government do?

Create a cross-government approach to improving health, including action to address the wider determinants of health

Government can do this by:

taking a ‘health-in-all-policies’ approach to improving health and wellbeing

Some health outcomes are the result of the quality and availability of health and care services, but many others are driven by factors outside the health and care system. Health outcomes – how long we live for and how many of those years are lived in good health – cannot be improved by the Department of Health and Social Care alone. They require a cross-government approach nationally, and strong partnerships with local government, the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector, and the private sector.

Ensuring that all policies are considered for their impact on people’s health – from clean air to housing to active travel, and more besides – will help to ensure that people are healthier, able to contribute more to the economy and society, and reduce demand pressures on health and care services.

This cross-government approach should include action to reduce health inequalities, and measures to help people to make healthy choices.

Reduce health inequalities

Government can do this by:

taking cross-government action to reduce health inequalities

A health-in-all-policies approach will help drive improvements in people’s health overall, but it’s important that the benefit is felt by all communities. Government can reduce inequalities by taking focused action to ensure that the people experiencing the worst health outcomes see the greatest benefit. Such an approach should mobilise multiple sectors, including local authority teams and VCSE organisations, which often have more trusting relationships with communities experiencing the worst health outcomes.

A cross-government approach to reducing health inequalities has worked before. Between 1997 and 2010, government departments agreed cross-government commitments to work towards national health inequalities targets on life expectancy and infant mortality. By the end of that period, there was less of a relationship between how much money an individual earns and how long they live. Inequalities in life expectancy between local authorities covering the most deprived and least deprived areas narrowed, and there were reductions in inequalities in infant mortality.

The benefits of reducing health inequalities will be shared. For example, reducing health inequalities is good for HM Treasury, businesses and individuals as it can improve productivity through higher labour market participation rates, more working hours, and greater efficiency. Reducing health inequalities can also stimulate economic growth and raise incomes. Estimates suggest that the costs of health inequalities in health across European countries (including the UK) amount to more than 9% of GDP.

Help people to make healthier choices

Government can do this by:

implementing policies, using tax and regulation, to encourage people to choose healthier diets and lifestyles – for example, by enacting the legislation that exists to restrict junk food advertising and supermarket promotions aimed at children.

National government uniquely has the power to take action to protect consumers who are being actively encouraged to make unhealthy choices. In the past, these measures have been used to reduce rates of smoking, for example with the smoking ban in enclosed spaces in 2007, but there are wider opportunities to do this in areas relating to alcohol, food and transport, as well as the legislation going through Parliament to create a smoke-free generation.

Government should make a quick start by implementing legislation that already exists to reduce obesity. The government legislated to implement a 9.00pm watershed for advertising of less healthy food and drink on TV and restrictions on paid-for online advertising, but implementation has been delayed until October 2025. The government has also delayed plans to restrict promotions of unhealthy foods such as  ‘buy one, get one free’ in shops and online until October 2025.  

Recent polling by The King’s Fund demonstrates significant public support for measures to improve public health. Almost two-thirds (65%) of people support restricting advertising of unhealthy food and drink, and more than one-third (41%) of people support banning retail promotions of unhealthy foods such as ‘buy-one-get-one-free’ deals.

More broadly, a majority of the public see the state as having an important role in addressing the main risks for ill health. Only 16%  of people think that the government has the right policies in place to improve public health.

For more information

For more information, please contact Jessica Holden, Policy Adviser, The King’s Fund, at: [email protected]