Our Priorities

Our vision  

A country where a greater focus on prevention means people are able to live longer, healthier lives, both physically and mentally – instead of our health often being a postcode lottery.

Our mission   

To use our research to encourage a more preventative approach to the nation’s health, as prevention is better than cure and has both health and economic benefits for the UK. 

Our guiding principle

Prevention is better than cure.

Why this matters

We need to bridge the divide in the nation’s health. For example, women in Richmond upon Thames enjoy an average of 70 years of their life in good health but their counterparts in Tower Hamlets just 55.6 years.

Living in a less affluent area shouldn’t mean you’re likely to die younger and spend more years in poor health. Wherever you are born, and whatever your background, you should have a reasonable chance of living a long and healthy life.

Recognising that prevention is better than cure is key to achieving this. More focus on prevention could save millions of people from suffering avoidable illness, reduce pressure on hospitals and GPs and keep the NHS affordable. 

This will also help free up potential - with more people able to contribute positively, more actively and for longer. 

Our Goals

  • A recognition by government of the importance of a preventative approach to health, in the interests of both public health and economic productivity – evidenced through relevant policies, practices, priorities and resourcing.
  • A cross-government approach to health, rather than the current siloed approach.
  • To help government think through and manage the transition from the urgent (e.g. NHS waiting lists) to the important (how to reduce the preventable illnesses that are fuelling the NHS waiting lists).

Our Long Term Priorities

  • More focus on child health – because what happens to us in the early years of life from conception onwards can influence our mental and physical health (and our weight) for years to come.
  • Greater focus on those at risk – to avoid health inequalities being carried forward from one generation to another.
  • A true National HEALTH Service, which gives higher priority to preventing people from falling ill, not simply treating them once they fall ill.