Millions of Brits going off work have left the UK 'the literal sick man of Europe'

How to stop getting sicker and poorer is the biggest challenge we as a country face in the coming years, as outlined in a damning report.

The three-year commission by the Institute for Public Policy Research shows people of all ages are becoming more unwell and concludes that a strong, resurgent economy will require a strong workforce.

This means more than just properly funding the NHS, as the last decade has seen much bigger funding cuts to services such as education and housing - which have had the effect of increasing the burden on the NHS.

The UK spends less on our NHS safety net than almost all major nations - which is part of the problem - but this report outlines how we need to reduce the extent people need catching in the net in the first place.

That means tackling poverty and addiction, as well as preventing avoidable ill health.

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It means providing hope and employment opportunities, as well as a GP appointment when we need one.

This mission is literally life and death as the commission found 1,600 babies would not have died between 2020 and 2022, if improvements in infant mortality had continued at the same rate as between 2001 and 2015.

The UK came sixth out of the G7 nations for health measures including life expectancy, avoidable deaths, obesity - with only the US faring worse.

Brits have on average 68.7 years of healthy life expectancy, compared to 73.8 in Japan, 70.9 in Italy and 70.5 in France.

The UK recorded 151 avoidable deaths a year for every 100,000 inhabitants. This compared to 85 in Japan and 91 in Italy.

In the UK 25.9% of people are obese compared to 4.6% in Japan, 12% in Italy, 14.4% in France and 16.7% in Germany.

The report estimated that the 900,000 missing workers due to poor health could mean an estimated £5 billion in lost tax receipts in 2024. Better population health could save the NHS £18 billion a year by the mid-2030s.

Britain’s economy has been stagnating since the 2009 financial crash, dogged by a seemingly intractable problem of low productivity in the workforce.

This is not because Brits are not working as hard, but is more to do with a lack of vital infrastructure like public transport and internet coverage.

However this report’s illustrious band of authors make the case that we need to stop viewing health as a ‘nice to have’.

If economic growth is the driving mission of this new government then population health must be a crucial metric by which all its policies are judged.

The IPPR have the ear of the Labour leadership and they hope this document could become its blueprint for a healthier and wealthier nation.

But only time will tell.