‘Levelling up’ the NHS is only one part of the picture

The wider social determinants of health are vital to improve the UK’s life expectancy performance, argues health correspondent Shaun Lintern

Data from the Office for National Statistics this week suggested we are less well connected with each other as a society (iStock)

Aneurin Bevan once described the NHS as the “envy of the world” and in many respects it deserved such a grand description, being one of the boldest socially progressive policies to emerge from the ashes of the Second World War.

Its singular aim was to improve the health of the nation: in attempting to do so, while costing individuals nothing at the point of use, it has earned a special place in the nation’s heart.

But the health service is only one part of a complex set of interdependent societal factors that actually contribute to the entire health and wellbeing of our nation.