Innovating with Vitality for Preventative Healthcare

Apologies for being political for a moment, but amidst the constant focus in the UK on Brexit, the country (along with most developed countries) is doing far too little to address one of the greatest social and economic crises of our times, that of preventable illness and disease.

Today I want to illustrate this, but then, rather than talk about what the public sector can or should do, focus on what one private sector business has done to truly innovate in order to create societal behaviour change.

Crisis ? Yes, this crisis!

This from the BMA (British Medical Association) on 28 March 2019:

Prioritising prevention for population health

“..despite rhetoric, public health funding has been repeatedly cut in recent years as the BMA has consistently highlighted…This short-term approach is having long-term consequences on the sustainability of the health service…Preventable ill-health accounts for an estimated:

• 50% of all GP appointments, 64% of outpatient appointments and 70% of all inpatient bed days
• 40% of the uptake of health services may be preventable through action on smoking, drinking alcohol, physical inactivity and poor diet