Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Reader-supported journalism that doesn’t just report problems, it helps solve them.
support today
News

Health Minister Lord O’Shaughnessy Backs Lord Bird’s NHS Agenda

Lord O’Shaughnessy says the Big Issue founder is right to champion NHS reform focusing on the prevention of health problems

A government health minister has said Big Issue founder Lord John Bird was “quite right” to champion a new, preventative approach to health care in the NHS.

Lord Bird, now a crossbench peer, raised the importance of investing in and supporting services that prevent health problems as a means of saving over the long-term during a House of Lords debate earlier this week.

“What we’ve got to do is push up the prevention [spending] amount,” said Lord Bird. “Is the minister prepared to come and talk to MPs and Lords who want to push up the prevention methodology?”

We need to move from an NHS that is dealing with illness to one that is promoting health care

Acknowledging Bird was “quite right,” Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health Lord O’Shaughnessy said: “We need to move from an NHS that is dealing with illness to one that is promoting health care, and preventive health care is a huge part of that.”

“We are providing over £16 billion of public health funding for local authorities over the spending review to do that, and I’d be delighted to meet any peers and MPs who wanted to talk about that further,” he added.

Lord Bird recently wrote in his weekly column for The Big Issue that “prevention is the best of all cures ever invented.”

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

Lord Nigel Crisp, the former chief executive of the NHS, set out his plan for reforming the UK’s ailing health service in our magazine. He too wants a prevention-based model – one that moves away from dependence on hospitals to a community based approach focused on creation health for all of us.

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

READER-SUPPORTED SINCE 1991

Reader-supported journalism that doesn’t just report problems, it helps solve them.

Recommended for you

View all
Calls for homeless minister Rushanara Ali to resign over rent hike row
Labour homelessness minister Rushanara Ali
Politics

Calls for homeless minister Rushanara Ali to resign over rent hike row

Measles, whooping cough and infection: Why children's health is getting worse in the UK
a child having pulse checked
Child poverty

Measles, whooping cough and infection: Why children's health is getting worse in the UK

Premier League clubs strike new shirt sponsor deals with gambling firms despite looming ban
A composite of Premier League shirts for the 25/26 season including Sunderland, Crystal Palace, Everton, Nottingham Forest, and Aston Villa. Everton and England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford is also pictured
Football

Premier League clubs strike new shirt sponsor deals with gambling firms despite looming ban

The fight to keep two libraries in two of Liverpool's most deprived areas: 'It would be a grievous blow'
A protest sign at Dovecot Muli Activity Centre in Liverpool
Libraries

The fight to keep two libraries in two of Liverpool's most deprived areas: 'It would be a grievous blow'

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know