Whatever we are doing on health, it isn't enough to prepare for the wave of morbidity that is clearly in sight.

Recent Health Foundation modelling estimates 1 in 5 will be living with major illness by 2040, mostly because more of us will be older. But it's not just about age. A record 2.5 million working-age people are already not in work due to ill health. So what can be done to improve the state of nation’s health?

To discuss, our Chief Executive Jennifer Dixon is joined by:

Jeanelle de Gruchy, Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England and lead for the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities at the Department of Health and Social Care.
Kevin Fenton, President of the UK Faculty of Public Health.

Show notes

The Health Foundation (2023). Health in 2040: projected patterns of illness in England.
UK government (2023). Major conditions strategy: case for change and our strategic framework.

ONS. Rising ill-health and economic inactivity because of long-term sickness, UK: 2019 to 2023.
The Health Foundation (2022). Addressing the leading risk factors for ill health.
The Health Foundation (2022). Is poor health driving a rise in economic inactivity?
The Health Foundation (2022). Health is wealth? Strengthening the UK’s immune system.
UK government (2021). Chief Medical Officer’s annual report 2021: health in coastal communities.

It's baaaack. Covid rears its ugly head