Public told to stop passing buck on health

Individuals should rely less on the state and take more
responsibility themselves to improve public health, a social
services director said.

John Beer, executive director of health and social care at
Southampton Council, said many people saw professionals as
primarily responsible for their health rather than
themselves.

At a session on partnerships between social care and the NHS in
public health, he said: “If you ask people about health they will
say ‘when I get ill I want it to be sorted’. But it’s about us as
individuals making changes.

“It’s more difficult for the government, for the NHS and for local
government.”