The Challenges Of The National Health Service (NHS)

The National Health Service (NHS) was founded in 1948 with the intention that healthcare should be available to all regardless of wealth (NHS constitution, 2013). When it was launched, it was based on three key principles: That it meet the need of everyone, That it be free at the point of delivery and that it be based on the clinical need, not the need to pay (NHS Constitution, 2013).

67 years later the NHS is facing a number of problems which threaten to overwhelm the NHS, ranging from an Ageing society, the rise of long term conditions coupled with increasing costs of care within constrained public resources, obesity and high blood pressure (Department of Health, 2015). This essay will explore the question of how the NHS can only survive

There is now a concerted effort to bring prevention of a disease/illness to the forefront of the NHS with the establishment of an NHS prevention programme and the need to re-focus attention on how people lead their lives, the impact of social circumstances on their health and the opportunities that we have to influence own

The government has a well-developed and wide-ranging programme to increase levels of physical activity (Department of Health, 2015). Included in their health promotion schemes are: investing £222 million in programmes such as Physical Education in schools, Change for life sports clubs, messages to increase the amount of cycling and walking undertaken, publicity campaigns including sport England’s This Girl Campaign (Department of Health, 2015) and working with organisations to promote healthy living including subsided gym