What's this Blog all about ?

This blog looks to explore the opportunities facing entrepreneurs to change peoples perception of their own health, their responsibility for it and how they can act in a proactive or preventative way to live a longer and better quality of life.

As we go through life we are all at risk of contracting physical or mental illness. The traditional western approach is reactive. The consequences of acting reactively are felt at a personal, corporate and government level.

The spiralling cost of reactive healthcare (paid for either directly or indirectly through taxes) is unsustainable - the infrastructure is creaking and many valiant providers are under considerable strain. The cost of sickness absence to companies in the UK alone is estimated at £11bn a year - the impact of this is felt across the board in insurance costs, recruitment costs and lost productivity. However, despite these clear signs neither state nor commercial budgets have prioritised spend of any substantial nature to find a solution.

At a personal level, being the subject of a reactive healthcare system comes at a personal cost - an opportunity cost - the cost of foregoing a longer and better quality of life. We wouldn't choose to get ill but by default that is the way many of us operate. The reality is that we are apathetic about out health - we see it as someone else's responsibility and are happy to leave it in the hands of clinical experts. We are prepared to spends a significant proportion of our personal income paying for our houses and cars but we aren't prepared to spend the equivalent of our annual car service on a health check. Is that a real indication of our priorities ? Are we too worried about what we may find ? Or don't we want to hear how we might need to change our lifestyle ?

Perhaps we haven't been presented with the consequences of our apathy in a meaningful way. Ultimately neither government nor companies can force people to be more healthy. It is at a personal level that our priorities need to change we are to avoid a healthcare crisis.