Government's new health strategy ‘no more than hiding the crisps', Tories say

Independent

2 days ago

The Government's 10-year health strategy to tackle demand on the NHS centres on 'hiding the crisps', a shadow minister has said.
Under new proposals, retailers could be made to set targets to increase their sales of less fattening products.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately said setting mandatory targets for supermarkets was 'nanny state'.
'They had 14 years in opposition to think about what they wanted to do about the NHS, they've had a year in government, and the number one thing in it seems to be hide the crisps,' she told Sky News' Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips.
'It's obviously the nanny state, but it's also not what people want for the NHS.
' People want to hear how they're going to get to see their GP.
'Telling people what to buy, I think, is not up to government. I believe in personal responsibility.'
Health Secretary Wes Streeting told the same programme the Government will work with supermarkets to help 'nudge people in the right direction'.
'By taking the approach we're taking with supermarkets, they will decide through the combination of where they put their products, how they do price promotions, the reformulation, what products they choose to put on the shelves,' he said.
'They will work with us to make sure that we nudge people in the right direction without any of us even noticing, in the same way that we've nudged the country in the other direction since the 1990s.'
Rejecting suggestions that the idea was too controlling, he said it was different to 'traditional nanny statism, where we regulate more heavily on price, on marketing, on what's sold'.
Labour's 10-year health plan is set to be published next week.
Other changes could include money for hospitals being linked to patient ratings.
According to the Times, part of the proposals will see patients contacted a few weeks after their hospital treatment for feedback.
Based on their responses, money could be diverted to a local 'improvement fund'.
Another proposal could see NHS users awarded points for upping their step count and eating healthily.
Points can then be traded for vouchers, with discounts at supermarkets and coffee shops, according to The Sun.
Hundreds of bodies responsible for overseeing and running parts of the NHS in England are likely to be scrapped as part of the changes.
Mr Streeting has said the current system is too complex and needs reform.