Posts about the work of the Health and Wellbeing directorate
Back in the 1980s, the Royal College of Psychiatrists published ‘Alcohol: Our Favourite Drug’. Not much has changed over the years. Eighty-five per cent of adults drink alcohol and luckily, most of us drink in a ‘low-risk’ way. But well …
Today Public Health England published national drug treatment statistics for adults in 2012-13. They show that treatment continues to perform well overall and that, within the context of declining prevalence, the numbers in treatment are falling. Access remains quick and …
How will NHS Health Checks help us in our priority of reducing health inequalities? It's a question I get asked a lot because of the nature of the programme. It's intended as a population-based prevention programme, which will raise awareness and assess …
At the beginning of September I received a call from a young relative who was clearly distressed about a family member in Ireland – let’s call him Jim. She explained that his telephone messages and Facebook entries were becoming increasingly …
The well-known US psychologist, Ed Diener, once complained his professors wouldn't let him study happiness – depression yes, but happiness? Never. To me, that sums up the traditional focus we've had on mental illness. Of course that's important, but it …
Everyone remembers those iconic public health adverts – the ‘fatty cigarette’ or HIV tombstone TV ads for example. But there is a lot more to health marketing than memorable and creative ideas – did you know that smokers have ordered …
