Healthy Choices?

29th Jun 2009; 18:00

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RSA Social Brain project event

Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley MP joins a panel of experts to discuss the relations between behaviour, choice and health outcomes.

Much of health policy for the last decade or so has concerned service provision – aiming to raise standards of care, cut waiting lists and encourage efficiency. However, there is a growing realisation that we also need to understand how the users of these services think and behave, if better health outcomes are to be achieved. The background to this is the gap between how highly we say we value our health and our actual behaviour. Can we design policies that help us close this gap? What would this mean for a consumer-led health service? Should individual choice be the driver of change? Or should the state try sometimes to guide behaviour? If so, how?

Our expert panel explores the psychology, economics and politics of behaviour and health.


Speakers: Shadow Secretary of State for Health Andrew Lansley CBE MP; Paul Dolan, professor of economics, Imperial College; Theresa Marteau, professor of health psychology, King's College; Dr Ben Seymour, honorary lecturer in neuroscience, UCL.

Chair: Matthew Taylor, chief executive, RSA

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