The new Health Secretary Wes Streeting has promised a “prevention first” approach to steering the UK out of its current healthcare crisis and transforming the health and wellbeing of the nation.
In this blog, we explore what’s behind this new focus, examine the current landscape of preventative healthcare in the UK, and ask what considerations businesses operating in this sector need to account for when planning their PR activity.
What’s behind the focus on preventative healthcare?
How do you get more for less out of a vast and labyrinthine organiszation employing 1.5 million people and uniquely cherished by the overwhelming majority of the British public?
That, in a nutshell, is the Gordian knot that every health secretary must try to untangle in the UK’s quest to make the NHS sustainable in the long term.
There is no escaping the reality that the NHS is in the depths of a crisis perhaps unlike any in its 75-year history, with waiting lists at record highs and a workforce that is not growing fast enough to keep pace with demand.
While support for the NHS model remains unwaveringly high among the British public, satisfaction with the health service’s performance is at a record low. The latest British Social Attitudes Survey found that only 24% of people are satisfied with the way the NHS is running, the lowest level since the survey began in 1983, with dissatisfaction at record lows across every service, demographic and socio-economic group.
There are a host of reasons for this, but the biggest driver is the difficulty patients face in accessing the care they need quickly and efficiently. Wes Streeting has calculated that part of the long-term solution to the NHS’ myriad problems is preventing as many people becoming ill in the first place as possible.
Preventative healthcare
Historically, the NHS has focused far more on treating late-stage symptomatic disease than it has on preventing these diseases taking hold. However, because we are generally living longer, but not necessarily healthier lives, ‘preventable’ illnesses (from cardiovascular disease to diabetes and certain cancers) are increasing.
The implications for the NHS both in terms of cost and capacity are profound. Treating diseases later is generally much more expensive and requires greater capacity to treat. As a result, treating preventable illnesses now accounts for around 40% of NHS spending. Moreover, preventable illnesses removesremove people from the workforce, with a knock onknock-on effect on economic growth and productivity.
In short, it is far less burdensome on NHS resources to intervene earlier and, for example, help a patient manage excess weight now than it is to treat them for the diabetes or heart problems they may develop as a result down the line.
Streeting is far from the first to recognize the need for a greater focus on preventative healthcare. During his tenure as Health Secretary Steve Barclay appointed the first-ever government champion for personalised prevention, Professor John Deanfield. Last month, Professor Deanfield called for the creation of a “pre-NHS” to focus on preventative healthcare, calling the current approach “unsustainable”.
The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change has also championed a more preventative-based approach, calculating billions of pounds could be saved.
How PR can support preventative healthcare businesses
With the growing emphasis on preventative healthcare in policy circles comes significant commercial opportunities for preventative healthcare providers. Public relations has an important role to play in supporting commercial priorities and can address a number of factors.
Most crucially, providers need to be proactive about communicating the long-term benefits of preventative healthcare and of their value proposition to consumers, policymakers and businesses. Covid ushered in a new willingness for consumers to manage their own health, familiarised people with key preventative tools like diagnostics and encouraged a greater emphasis on prioritising wellness. Providers should meet consumers where they are within this new context.
Healthcare is also deeply personal to consumers involving, as it often does, the sharing of highly sensitive personal information. For many consumers, understanding the value proposition alone is not enough to build the necessary trust and engagement. They want to understand the people behind the business and what drives it. Credible and compelling corporate storytelling is a must.
Regular thought leadership on key issues of interest is a great foundation but there are additional tactics that can pay real dividends. For example, building strategic partnerships with patient groups in the area of disease/healthcare that a provider focuses on; or strengthening your advisory board with credible experts within the field will demonstrate expertise and build trust.
As always, providers should also have an eye on potential crises that can emerge and have in place robust plans to manage them. Providers are more than likely handling lots of sensitive and confidential patient information – so, do they have a proper crisis management plan in place in the event that data is compromised? The recent ransomware attack on NHS pathology services provider Synnovis should serve as a reminder of the reputational damage and impact on patients that can occur when things go wrong.
If you’re a business operating in the preventative healthcare space, get in touch with our healthcare PR experts to discuss how we can add value to your business.