The UK government’s principal medical adviser Sally Davies has called for an end to healthcare providers’ focus on “wellbeing”, saying that the concept is poorly defined and there is little evidence to support this approach for tackling mental ill-health.
In her 2013 annual report as chief medical officer, ‘Public health priorities: investing in the evidence’, published on 9 September 2014, Davies says that healthcare providers must concentrate their efforts on public mental health interventions for which there is strong evidence.
Davies points to the model of public mental health developed by the World Health Organization, which recommends mental illness prevention, mental health promotion and treatment, recovery and rehabilitation. In particular, Davies emphasises the relationship between both physical health and employment status and mental health.
