Health promotion in primary health care: the situation in England

National policy, including changes to the management of the National Health Service, is intended to increase the amount of primary and secondary prevention in primary health care in England. The growth of financial power of general practitioners makes them key decision-makers in planning and delivering health promotion. The vast majority of people in contact with their family doctor could benefit from making appropriate lifestyle modifications. However, the level and quality of health promotion activity in primary care is variable, with many patients not receiving interventions. A review of research indicates that both skepticism about the relationship between behaviour and risk factor, and lack of confidence in efficacy of health promotion in changing patient behaviour act as barriers to general practitioners taking on more health promotion activity. For prevention work to increase, therefore, general practitioners require more evidence of effective replicable interventions, and appropriate training on the design and implementation of programmes. The role of the Health Education Authority, the national agency for health promotion in England, in meeting these needs is described. The paper also includes a brief discussion of evaluation methods for assessing the success of health promotion interventions.