Blueprint targets smoking and obesity

A ban on workplace smoking moved closer today with a Government report demanding urgent action to make Britons live healthier lifestyles.

The study, by former banker Derek Wanless, said the NHS should stop acting as a "patch and mend" service for the sick and make the entire population take part in disease prevention programmes. Success would add 2.9 years to the average man's lifespan within 20 years and give women an extra 2.5 years of life.

It would also cut health spending from a projected 12.5 per cent of national income to 10.5 per cent, saving up to £30billion a year.

A workplace smoking ban could cut the habit by four per cent among adults, the report said, urging a new target of reducing smoking from 27 per cent of adults to just 17 per cent by 2022.

"The evidence suggests that there are still large gains to be made from further increases in taxation (subject to smuggling) and restrictions on workplace and public place smoking," it said.

On obesity, the report warned: "The scale of the problem is unprecedented - over half of the population in England are overweight or obese.

"This is a serious concern when obesity reduces a person's life expectancy by nine years, on average, and increases the risk of a wide variety of disease."

The report attacked manufacturers for "supersizing" portions of junk food and sweets.

But only 40 per cent of men and 26 per cent of women were having enough exercise.

The report a dismissed idea put forward by Downing Street "blue skies" thinkers for subsidised gym membership, saying members would not attend.

It was less hostile to a so-called fat tax, saying VAT on cholesterol could save up to 1,200 lives a year by reducing cake and junk food consumption.

Hospital consultants have started the Doctors For Reform group, which says an underfunded NHS cannot meet demand and the time has come to "put power into patients' hands" by adopting a Europeanstyle system. They propose everyone in the UK pays for a basic insurance plan defined by law, with insurance firms competing for custom.

Policies would have to provide a comprehensive package. Poorer people would have their premiums subsidised, or paid in full, and patients could go to a variety of healthcare providers.

Doctors For Reform say such systems give doctors and patients genuine choice. Labour branded the group a Conservative Party "front organisation".