Chris Drinkwater's 20 years as a GP in Newcastle's tough west end district has ensured he is vastly experienced in tackling the typical issues which remain a barrier to improving public health.
As chair of the Government's primary care public health task group, he can use those experiences to help pinpoint how the current public health drive can be developed.
And he believes GPs are in a prime position to help empower local communities to take charge of their own health management.
"GPs don't always realise what a strong position they are in in terms of being local opinion-formers,"
said Professor Drinkwater. "All the evidence is that the level of trust in GPs remains high and this is something they can take advantage of, particularly during the current debate."
Professor Drinkwater said he has witnessed many of the common factors influencing lifestyles, having started out as a single-handed practice in a shopping centre with a pub, betting shop, video shop and chip shop adjacent to the practice. "It was a microcosm of inner city life,"
added the former GP, now professor of primary care development and head of the primary care development centre at Northumbria University.
As the practice grew during the 1980s, there was a gradual realisation among the partners that health improvement was as important as treating illness and dealing with demand.
"We felt a bit like a band aid operation - patching people up and sending them out. And from where we were based, it was clear that people's lifestyles were having an adverse effect on their health,"
he said.
He led a project group responsible for setting up the West End Health Resource Centre in 1996, an early prototype for the new generation of healthy living centres. Situated in an area of high unemployment and social deprivation, it has since been made an NHS Beacon for its work in helping local people to improve their own health, such as through healthy eating and exercise.
Although no longer in general practice, Professor Drinkwater remains a trustee of the centre, which also runs activity programmes for specific groups like the over-50s and those with heart problems.
Also the public health lead for the NHS Alliance, he added: "For so long the NHS has focused mainly on treatment but the public health issue highlights the need to concentrate on prevention and, in that respect, our resource centre has been a real success."
However, he is acutely aware that getting people to change their lifestyle habits is rather different to just treating them for an illness. "As GPs, we need to examine how we can provide the appropriate encouragement and support to people. There aren't any magic solutions to this."
For more information on the centre see below.
