07/07/2025
The long awaited NHS 10 year plan dropped last week. Much within it is welcome but once again, the government is failing to grasp the preventative health nettle.
The current government promises to be bold, then opts for nudge instead. The obvious thing, starring policy makers in the face, is not being seen.
For preventative healthcare, the focus HAS to be on diet and lifestyle. BANT members are already working in communities across the country; let's get them into the new Neighbourhood Hubs and begin to make a real difference to the health of the nation.
BANT Press Release 07 July 2025, Bells and Whistles but where is the Blueprint for Prevention in the Government’s Ten Year Plan?
The publication of the UK Government's new 10-year health plan was trailed as an ambitious roadmap towards , innovation, and a digitally enabled NHS. Yet despite some strong recommendations, the strategy falls strikingly short of the promises it purports to deliver, particularly when it comes to prevention; tackling , improving outcomes, and strengthening the public health workforce.
The marginalisation of qualified nutrition practitioners and the absence of robust, food-first strategies creates a glaring hole in this plan. Without them, the promise of prevention is not just weakened, it is hollow. If prevention is to be taken seriously, the voices and expertise of registered nutrition professionals must not be ignored.
BANT urges the Department of Health and Social Care and the Health Select Committee to revisit the modelling underpinning the obesity projections and to consider a broader, evidence-informed approach that includes regulation, reformulation, food system change, and population-level dietary improvements.
The plan purports to be a ‘new model of care, fit for the future’, so let’s be brave with our remodelling instead of recycling old initiatives and pinning our hopes on AI. Undoubtedly the UK is behind the technological curve but we also lag behind other nations in our approach to prevention and integrative models of care. As it stands, BANT fails to see a ‘new’ paradigm in this model.
Disappointingly, the vast majority of the plan is about changing a national ‘treatment’ service. There is very little about ensuring future health, nor collaboration with other sectors and services outside of the current NHS structures. To deliver whole person health and future-proof the NHS we need to push the boundaries of allopathic medicine and integrate with prevention-led lifestyle medicine.
Whilst BANT welcomes investment in AI, data systems, and acute care innovation, this plan represents a profound missed opportunity to address the upstream drivers of ill health, namely poor diet quality, systemic inequality, and inadequate public health nutrition strategy....
Read the full press release here:
https://bant.org.uk/bells-and-whistles-but-where-is-the-blueprint-for-prevention-in-the-nhs-ten-year-plan/
