Policy & Practice: Briefing - Health report stresses earlyintervention

OK - what's the big picture here?

Actually, it's difficult to tell. Sections of this report are so over the top about the brilliant way in which the NHS has been transformed with huge amounts of investment that your attention wanders. But stick with it and you see that this white paper has four main goals.

Which are? First of all, a major shift towards early intervention and prevention. One of the key initiatives here is the introduction of an NHS Life Check that will help people to assess and address their lifestyle risks. This will be focused on life stages, of which transition to secondary school will be one, and will be available online with users having the option of filing their information into their personal "HealthSpace" as part of a lifelong personal health plan. Then there is the move to give people more choice and voice in health provision. You will have read about some of the possible impacts of this last week (YPN, 1-7 February, p14) in a feature that spoke to young people with disabilities about how they would spend their health-care budgets. The other two main goals are the reduction of health inequalities - meaning more focus on those with particular needs, including young people - plus support for people with long-term needs.