Sir Kevin Barron MP led on a Self Care Week Debate
Self Care Week was the to
pic of a debate in parliament on 22 November 2016 led by Sir Kevin Barron MP, co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Primary Care and Public Health and long-time champion and campaigner on issues of public health. Referring to Self Care Week as “excellent” he spoke of it going from strength to strength with the growing number of local and regional health organisations using it to support and educate people in their health. He also used the debate to highlight recommendations from the APPG’s latest inquiry which looked at aspects of the Five Year Forward View, and spoke of the need for a National Self Care Strategy led by a Government Minister and National Director to drive forward a programme of work to help empower people in their own health.
Health Minister David Mowat, who was also taking part in the debate, recognised “the moment for self care has arrived.” He acknowledged “the Self Care Forum has been doing a lot of work in this area for a number of years,” and, responding to Sir Kevin’s call for a national self care strategy the Minister said “my general learning point would be that we need fewer strategies and more implementable plans.”
Health Spokesperson, Sharon Hodgson MP also provided a view from the Opposition (Labour) during the debate saying “the NHS is a trusted bastion, but sadly we are seeing more and more people accessing NHS services when there is no need and when a chat to one of our excellent community pharmacists would have sufficed” and “self care is a crucial preventive measure that must be developed further to ensure that the NHS is as resilient as possible and can respond in more effective and meaningful ways to the nation’s health.”
