‘Worried well’ are a myth, says minister

THERE is no such thing as the ‘worried well’, the Health Secretary has said, adding that people with minor ailments must see their doctor – despite the pressure GPs are under.

Matt Hancock made the comments as he set out the Government’s NHS plan and said he hoped to make ‘the 2020s a decade of prevention of ill health’.

He said he believed patients should not be mocked for seeking advice on seemingly trivial concerns, adding: ‘I don’t believe in the worried well – I want healthy people to be concerned about their own health so they stay healthy.’

However, his comments sparked controversy among GPs last night, who said they are already overburdened. Professor Martin Marshall, chairman of the royal College of GPs, said: ‘Services that are under enormous pressure are general practice, are A&E, so when people use those services when they don’t have a real need, that’s a major problem.’

In a separate open letter to Boris John

‘Redouble efforts to tackle obesity’

son, Professor Marshall warned that GP practices are now working at ‘full capacity’ and that with more professionals leaving general practices than being trained, ‘we are fighting a losing battle’.

When Mr Johnson became Prime Minister in July, he pledged to tackle ‘threeweek waits to see a GP’ and the Conservative Party pledged to create 50million more GP appointments and deliver 6,000 more full-time equivalent GPs.

Latest NHS figures show the number of full-time GPs dropped by more than 300 in the past year amid a mounting crisis.

In his speech at the Policy Exchange think-tank yesterday, Mr Hancock said the Government will ‘redouble’ efforts to tackle obesity and smoking in the 2020s but ruled out implementing a proposed ban on eating on public transport.

He also pledged to tackle inequality that leads to a discrepancy in life expectancy and health around the country. ‘It can’t be right that as we enter the 2020s a man born in Buckingham can expect 68 years of good health, but a man born in Blackpool can only expect 53... And it starts even before a child is born,’ Mr Hancock said.