Abstract
Wellbeing has emerged as a defining feature of health policy in recent years. In the UK, a 2014 briefing paper from the Department of Health stated that there is a two-way relationship between health and wellbeing because health has an impact on wellbeing and wellbeing also impacts on health. Good health is a predictor for, or determinant of, a high level of wellbeing, and also an outcome. There is therefore a clear relationship between health and wellbeing. Recent national publications and policy approaches in the UK have incorporated wellbeing within almost all policy prescriptions. This article will consider the complexities of formulating and implementing joint health and wellbeing policies in the UK. It will begin by considering the origins of the health-wellbeing linkage. It will then look at health and wellbeing policy articulation and prescriptions using government policy papers and documents. Finally, it will consider the inherent difficulties of the joint framework approach.
Highlights
25 If we take a look at the high number of policy papers linking health and wellbeing, it would seem that it is in the area of health, more than other policy areas, that the government has chosen to intervene and incorporate wellbeing
This section will review policy in two areas: mental health and more generally measures to join up health and wellbeing at the local level
41 because of the definitional problems associated with wellbeing, the association of health and wellbeing in policy could be quite detrimental to policies which aim to improve health outcomes
Summary
10 It is interesting to focus on the UK’s approach to wellbeing measurement and policy implications because this country is regarded as being one of the most advanced countries in terms of measuring subjective wellbeing and developing a wellbeing agenda. 13 Following this report, and despite the aforementioned difficulties, a statement of common understanding was established cutting across all government departments: Wellbeing: Statement of Common Understanding Wellbeing is a positive physical, social and mental state; it is not just the absence of pain, discomfort and incapacity It arises from the action of individuals, but from a host of collective goods and relationships with other people. 18 In various documents that have been written in recent years making explicit reference to the link between health and wellbeing (see Appendix for the most recent documents), the Department of Health acknowledges that its objectives as regards health and wellbeing are inseparable and that this is at the heart of all its activities, priorities and policy documents Even earlier papers, such as the Public Health White Paper Choosing Health: Making Healthy Choices Easier (Department of Health, 2004) for example, make a number of commitments to include wellbeing in overall health strategy. The recent emphasis on including wellbeing analysis in health policies finds support in studies which have shown an important link between health and wellbeing
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