The Developing Patient Partnerships charity is to close because the Department of Health won’t fund it beyond April 2008. The charity has since 1997 worked to promote good health messages to patients and better use of GP services . The timing is a bit odd to say the least – just when Dame Carol Black is about to announce her recommendations on the health of working age people, a big part of which is going to be about promoting healthier lifestyles and trying to get rid of the sick note culture.
Needless to say the DPP is not well pleased. Their final conference is ominously called ‘Who is driving health education? Examining the vested interests that are influencing our health behaviour’. The thinking here seems to be that the DPP provided independent advice whereas advice from other sources could be tainted by commercial incentives. Who do they mean? The big health insurers? Manufacturers and retailers of dodgy dieting products? I think we should be told.