Government Launches Preventive Healthcare Inquiry

The Health and Social Care Committee has launched a major new inquiry into the prevention of ill-health.
• Prevention in health and social care
• Health and Social Care Committee

In the first stage of the inquiry, MPs are inviting researchers and organisations involved in preventative healthcare to suggest which topics should be considered. A further call for evidence based on the areas that the Committee decides to focus on will follow.

Health and Social Care Committee Chair, Steve Brine MP, said:
“Preventing ill-health offers the biggest opportunity for everyone to enjoy a better quality of life and I happen to think is the only way to keep our NHS sustainable as it’s plain logic to see what will happen if demand continues to out-pace supply at current levels.

“But what does prevention look like and how can we promote it? We’re inviting everyone – not just professionals working in the sector – to tell us which areas we should be focusing on – a rare offer from a Select Committee.

“We’re interested in how health can be impacted by wider factors, such as the impact of poor housing as a determinant of ill health.
“We’ll use our findings to set a challenge for the Government to boost prevention as one of the top priorities. We intend to set a clear direction on what steps Ministers must take now to achieve a new goal by the end of the decade.”

Terms of reference
Topics the inquiry could cover include:
• Upstream prevention, including genomic sequencing
• Obesity and physical activity
• Smoking
• Alcohol use
• Mental health
• Healthy environments
• Health homes and workplaces
• Disease prevention

MPs will consider proposals of no more than 750 words that outline nature of the issue that the Committee should explore, why it deserves the Committee’s attention and how Government policy in this area could be developed or improved. The deadline for submitting a proposal is 8 February 2023.