Britain once led the way when it came to life expectancy (Image: Getty)
THE NHS is “creaking at the seams” and Britain’s record on life expectancy is a “national disgrace”, according to one of the country’s leading healthcare entrepreneurs.
Peter FitzGerald, the founder of Randox Health, argues that routine healthcare testing could save taxpayers ￡12billion and boost survival rates for cancer and serious diseases.
A report commissioned by the diagnostics specialists states that “improvements in life expectancy have ground to a halt” and more than one in five deaths are considered “avoidable”. It warns that since 1960 the UK has “declined from being ranked first for life expectancy among G7 countries to being ranked second last”.
Dr FitzGerald said: “This is a shameful drop of quality care, and it should be a national disgrace that our healthcare provider has failed us so badly.”
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Pushing for the UK to follow the example of Japan, where the average person can expect to live more than 84 years, he said: “Japan is leading the way in healthcare testing. It has the highest life expectancy of all G7 nations, and it routinely tests for far more than we do in the UK.
“Major benefits for them have included a massive 25 per cent fall in diabetes rates among those at risk of developing the disease.”
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The Office for National Statistics sounded the alarm bell about declining life expectancy in the UK earlier this year. Life expectancy at birth for men in the 2020-22 period fell by 38 weeks to 78.6 compared with 2017-19; for women, it went gone down by 23 weeks to 82.6 years.
There is strong concern that in Britain people are much more likely to enjoy long lives if they are better off. In 2021, there was alarm when it was reported that a man living in Kensington and Chelsea, one of the country’s richest areas, could be expected to live 27 years longer than a counterpart in Blackpool.
Even within towns and cities there are radical differences. Last month a reported gap of 13 years in life expectancy between men living in different areas of Darlington was condemned by a local councillor as “disgusting”.
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Dr FitzGerald is pushing for a far more ambitious programme of testing than the health MOTs offered to people aged 40-plus on the NHS.
Claiming that the “NHS is creaking at the seams,” he said: “By investing in preventative measures, the NHS will be far more effective and therefore far better value for money for the taxpayer.”
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The biochemist, who in 1982 founded his company in a converted chicken house in Crumlin in Northern Ireland, argues Britain “must do better”.
He said: “Improving the health and prosperity of the nation is an important goal – and this initiative can more than pay for itself. More importantly, it will be greater than a simple money saving exercise.
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“It can and will save lives. It is time for government to step up and deliver for the British people.
A Department for Health and Social Care spokeswoman said: “We will transform the NHS from a late diagnosis, late treatment health service, to one that catches illness earlier and prevents it in the first place. We will start by doubling the number of diagnostic scanners to help speed up diagnosis and treatment.”
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has ordered a “full and independent investigation into the state of the NHS” to uncover the biggest challenges facing the health service.