Cancer Prevention Blog

Health professionals could provide lifestyle advice

The government recently received a report calling for GPs, nurses and other health professionals to do more to help people make lifestyle changes such as being more physically active or eating a healthier diet.

In line with WCRF’s Policy Report recommendations, NHS Future Forum calls for the promotion of healthy living to be a core part of the day-to-day business of NHS staff in a policy dubbed ‘make every contact count’.

Millions of people come into contact with health professionals every day, which is a great opportunity to provide advice on health living, including the benefits of healthy diets, weight management and regular physical activity.

This may well raise accusations of ‘nanny-statism’ among some and bodies such as the Royal College of GPs and the Royal College of Nursing feel people could be put off visiting their GPs’ surgery if they anticipate criticism. But while many will argue that cutting down on unhealthy foods or going for a brisk walk around the local park are obvious measures and don’t need promoting by doctors, there are many areas where the public is uninformed and could do with some help.

WCRF supports a move to make information more widely available to people so they know how to make the changes necessary to cut their risk of developing diseases like cancer.

For example, a recent parliamentary report on alcohol found many people have difficulty understanding alcohol unit guidelines. The report suggested that people should have at least two days a week without alcohol. Health professionals would be in an ideal position to provide this kind of information.

As lifestyle-related illnesses are on the rise it is apparent that people need all the help they can to let them make healthy choices and our publications have found that people can benefit from such information.

But it’s important to remember that choices are strongly influenced by other factors such as education and poverty and many say the government should be tackling these issues rather than lecturing people on their ‘poor choices’.

So, while health professionals have a role in public health and are in a unique position to give advice, politicians need to address issues such as poverty that have a huge impact on our health.