White Paper pledges to make best use of pharmacy
John Reid in Lambeth, South London, after the launch of the White
Paper |
The Government’s White Paper on improving public health, “Choosing health — making healthy choices easier”, was published this week.
Key areas for action include smoking
cessation, reducing obesity, supporting
sensible drinking and improving sexual and
mental health.
Other measures to improve public health include an increase in the number
of smoke-free workplaces, control over the promotion of unhealthy foods
to children, unambiguous labelling of the nutritional content of food,
and the introduction of NHS-accredited health trainers.
The White Paper pledges to “put in place measures which make the
most of the contribution that pharmacists can make” and says that
the strategy for pharmaceutical public health, due to be published next
year, will demonstrate the role for pharmacy in public health.
Addressing the House of Commons this week, health secretary John Reid
said: “This White Paper commits us to ensuring that health services
such as sexual health services, NHS stop-smoking services and obesity
ser ices all now benefit fully from the same drive for modernisation
and improvement that is spreading across the rest of the NHS.” Tackling
social and geographical inequalities in health is also a key theme throughout
the document. “We will be targeting funding to give greater priorities
to areas of high health need,” said Mr Reid. “New investment
in primary care facilities for some 50 per
cent of the population by 2008 will focus on the most deprived areas
of our communities. Mr Reid said that the paper envisages investing at
least £1 billion in public health over the next three years.
Health Direct The White Paper also outlines a new telephone,
internet and digital
television public information service, “Health Direct”, which will
be available from 2007.
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Leading article p732
News feature p739 |
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