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Water for Health Speech – Thursday 12 May
Welcome
Good morning.
On behalf of Water UK I’m delighted to welcome you to this second Water UK
Information and Learning Water for Health Conference.
It’s excellent that so many of you share our view of the importance of this topic; and
that you come from so many different groups, including doctors, health promotion
groups, environmental health, government and of course water companies.
Introduction
Today is an important milestone for our water and health project.
Who would have thought, even two years ago, that we would be holding a conference
here at one of the centres of the medical world? It’s excellent that the British Medical
Association is showing real interest in our work by hosting the event.
In fact the BMA was the centre of my world for many years when I worked there.
Some of you came to our first health conference in October. Our original idea was to
have an update in autumn 2005 around one year on. But so much has happened, and
there was so much momentum that we were keen to have a new exchange of views
sooner than that. So here we are.
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The whole thing began when we in the industry realised that some major benefits of
our excellent drinking water in this country were going to waste. Society wasn’t
getting the value, because the true potential of our product – tap water – was either
unknown or taken for granted.
We began to see that what was for us an unexploited product benefit could also be a
big gap in public health provision.
In a nutshell, we realised that helping people be more aware of the importance of
good hydration, and acting on that awareness, could be both a prophylactic and a
positive aid to good health.
Well, lots of people agreed, and this led to the Water for Health Alliance of
organisations with an interest in health promotion.
We worked with our partners in the Alliance to set out some clear aims. These were:
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to raise the profile of good hydration in health policy and health education; and
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to make good drinking water more accessible to everyone in their everyday lives.
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By working together, we’ve made real progress and it’s my pleasant task to bring you
up to date and say a few words about where the policy challenge is taking us next.
First, I’ll speak about developments in the water for health campaign and the huge
potential it offers public health. Second, I want to review what’s been happening in
the policy arena. Third, I’d like to tell you about the latest step in our health
information campaign which is being announced today. And fourth, where we need to
concentrate next.
The Water for Health campaign
So, first, an overview of the water for health campaign.
To put it simply, the challenges are better information and better distribution. We
have to dispense with the old attitudes to drinking water – the idea that “Water is OK
- if you’re thirsty and you haven’t got anything better”. This can harm the health of
anyone who still believes it, but it’s particularly worrying for more vulnerable groups.
And then we have to work with managers and policy-makers to back up the new
approach. This means making well-presented, high quality water available to
everyone throughout the day - at work, at school, in hospitals and care homes, in
leisure and shopping centres, in government offices and all public places.
Our prescription for achieving these aims is simple to say, not so simple to do. It is to
hitch a ride on what I see as one of today’s most interesting social developments - the
new personal health revolution.
You may think ‘revolution’ is a strange choice of word. But I think there really is a
‘self-reliance’ revolution going on, where more and more people are in a position to
make good choices about their own health. They have the knowledge and the time, the
resources and the opportunity. And they are making those choices.
And there is a change taking place in official and professional thinking. It may be
hard work for some, but many professionals are doing things differently. They’re
sharing information rather than dispensing it from on high; treating the individual;
looking at lifestyle issues.
The government is focusing on prevention as well as cure. Yes, we have heard it
before, but I know everyone in this room will encourage them. NHS Direct is part of
the story; and the willingness to take on problems like smoking and obesity in the face
of newspapers going on about the ‘nanny state’.
Our water for health campaign must be part of this revolution in public health. We
really must make full use of one of the simplest and most effective supports of good
health – high quality drinking water at a price everyone can afford.
The stakes are high for many people in our society.
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I mean those vulnerable groups including young people, elderly people and those in
hospital. But I also mean:
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people who haven’t benefited as much as they should have done from the major
improvements in health care
people without proper access to good health education
people on low incomes who have less access to a healthy diet than other sections
of society.
We now have the clearest evidence that water is a health drink of real power. I believe
that everyone, whatever their wealth, whatever their status, should be able to benefit.
And where it’s not happening, we need public health policy and working in
partnership to make it happen.
Now, what’s been going on in that policy arena?
Policy developments
In England. We've had some positive developments in our schools. They are
currently even further along the road in Scotland and Wales. Through its Hungry for
Success strategy, Scotland has achieved a 600 per cent increase in water provision in
schools and Ministers have commented that water has become cool…..not just
literally, but in the fashion sense. The Welsh Assembly Government and Welsh
Water have been fully engaged for the last two years in a scheme to supply free water
coolers to 300 of the schools identified as the most deprived. I am delighted that you
will be hearing more on their work from Rod Burns and Sue Bowker later on.
1) In November last year the government published its health white paper for
England called Choosing Health.
The paper actually focuses on public health policy. This is good but what’s really
important is that it sets the seal of officialdom on some ideas that health professionals
have held for years without making very much progress.
These ideas are summarised in the title - ‘Choosing health’. The subjects are:
‘healthier choices’, ‘health equality’, ‘healthy environments’, ‘local communities and
social networks’, and ‘support for individuals’.
You can see why it’s relevant to what I called a ‘personal health revolution’. What is
so different is that the white paper recognises the role of the individual and the impact
of consumer society.
It says: “Many of the choices that affect our lives are choices we make as consumers.”
These ideas are simple but powerful. You only have to look at the food and health
media debates of the past year to see how powerful. Of course, though, people are
going to need accurate information and not be bombarded with junk messages about
junk products if they are going to be able to make the right choices
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The white paper has a chapter on “A health-promoting National Health Service”. If
you weren’t close to these things you might wonder what the NHS has been doing for
the last 57 years if not promoting health! I would just say that for a national
government to move openly towards giving similar emphasis to preventing illness as
to curing it still seems a radical step.
It is also undoubtedly the step that makes our agenda so timely.
The white paper has a long section on Choosing a Better Diet. It’s about preventing
serious conditions, including cardiovascular disease, cancer and obesity. If fresh water
were simply to be added to this type of NHS dietary information, as it has been added
to NHS Direct advice, the benefits would be that all of these conditions have been
shown to be reduced, prevented, or positively affected by good hydration.
So the official position of health promotion and healthy choices fits well with the
water for health message and the action that the stakeholder Alliance is currently
taking
All of these have been shown to be reduced, prevented, or positively affected by good
hydration.
So the official position fits well with the water for health message and the action that
the Water for Health Alliance is currently taking.
2) The other key policy development of the past months has been the Food in
Schools Programme.
This is an ambitious project and a step forward for nutritional standards. It sets tough
minimum standards which will be rolled out to primary and secondary schools from
September 2005, and become mandatory from September 2006. The DoH tells us that
water will now be among the standards. The whole thing received massive publicity
with the Jamie Oliver TV programmes and his attack on the turkey twizzler.
Although listening to the media interviews – I wondered whether the health Minister
actually knew of their Department’s good work.
Food in Schools is also really good for our campaign. It uses a 16-page supplement to
underline the part water can play in improving concentration and behaviour. It comes
right up front about what works and what doesn’t - and why it matters. It’s got lots of
case studies and ideas about promoting water. There’s also a useful water provision
checklist.
I don’t want to pick, but there is one daft bit.
It’s where they schools are told they should be providing water free of charge.
Unfortunately the picture is a smiling young woman with a bottle of Abbey Well
Sport mineral water. As you know at Water UK we believe that good water is good
water whatever its source, but I wonder if any school would be happy to provide
branded mineral water free of charge, or if Abbey Well would be happy if they did.
And as for the impact on the environment compared with tap water.
Now I’ll move on to an exciting new step in our information campaign.
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Launch of new public information today
One of the most important things we’ve done since beginning our campaign has been
to gather together the scientific research about the role good hydration plays in good
health.
The problem was that the collected weight of evidence wasn’t very accessible to
people – especially the people who make health policy.
We decided to do something about this. We asked Hillary Forrester to lock herself in
the library here and put together the papers that deal with hydration and different
conditions and population groups. As you know, Hillary made a great job of it and we
posted the results on the Water for Health website.
This work has been the bedrock of the campaign and today we’re presenting some of
the evidence in a new form – three public information leaflets with the title ‘Wise up
to water!’
The leaflets make a really strong case for good hydration in children, in healthy
ageing, and in helping the body to resist cancer.
As you would expect, they cover the benefits with references to the supporting
research. But what is most exciting is that they give us extra options in spreading the
word.
To begin with, they fit in with the way of thinking I mentioned a moment ago.
They’ve been written for anyone and everyone who has an interest. Of course that
means professionals in different disciplines, but also individuals interested in their
own health.
We’re going to send copies to the relevant professional bodies. We’ll promote them in
the health media. But we also want to interest the public so we’ll be talking to
national newspaper health editors.
Hillary will tell you more about the project in a moment.
Later we’ll be hearing from Marilyn Reid about the latest MORI research into public
perception and consumption of drinking water. Marilyn will tell you about the
findings, but I’m sure she won’t mind if I say that they show that we have a long way
to go to meet our overall objectives.
I’m very confident that the ‘Wise up to water’ information and the MORI research
will create the extra interest we need.
Speaking of the way we have to go brings me to my conclusions and the challenges
we face in the year ahead.
Where next?
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I want to outline where we need to concentrate next. As I said, we’ve made good
progress but from a pretty low base, so there’s still a lot to do.
At our national water symposium, Source, last autumn, we set out three challenges
facing everyone with an interest in water. One was realising the public health benefits.
We said we had to improve access, awareness and perception.
On access we pointed out that: many children and teachers still have poor access to
water in school; standards for care homes for the elderly still don’t mention water
being freely available; and in many hospitals patients and staff still suffer from a lack
of facilities.
We have to keep up the pressure for better access in all public and work places.
On perception we accepted that tap water still suffers from negative perceptions.
Some of this is the result of traditional ideas about quality and also (I’m sorry to say)
some mineral water and water filter system promotions.
But other things are relevant too like the aesthetics of tap water – its taste, smell and
appearance - where we in the industry need to make improvements.
Finally an issue has arisen about the status of water. It sounds surprising, but we must
ask ourselves what we believe water actually is.
It’s recognised by the World Health Organization and by many dieticians as one of
the six basic nutrients - along with carbohydrates, fat, vitamins, proteins and minerals.
It might be called the ‘primary nutrient’ because all the body’s important chemical
reactions take place in it.
There is a mountain of government research and advice about Recommended Daily
Intake of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals. But for water? Nothing.
And this is even stranger, because many people now accept that water can play a vital
role in reducing obesity by being a clear and calorie-free fluid. The current guidance
talks of ‘providing fluids and avoiding dehydration’ rather than say ‘access to water
and encouraging good hydration’.
I believe the case for a government-backed recommended daily intake for drinking
water in this country is very strong and it would certainly make it easier to change
perceptions. I would be very interested to hear you views.
Conclusion
In the end we need to work on so many different fronts. We have some excellent
speakers today to cover every angle. All of them relate in some way to the need to
influence policy, which is one of our key aims.
So I want to end with a direct appeal from the water for health campaign to all policy
advisers, decision-makers, employers, professionals, and managers. I want to call on
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them to take their responsibilities seriously and make sure that everyone in their care
has access to a well-presented source of water.
In other words, whatever their business, they should 'just add water'.
We may not be able to follow the 1950s cake mix supplier (before your time) and
offer 'perfect results every time'. But if they don't provide water, we can absolutely
promise that their staff, or pupils, or patients, or whoever, will be less alert, will
perform less well, and in the long run will be less healthy than they should be, and
contributing less to the potential success of our country.
Oh, and the pay-back period for the small investment needed will be very short
indeed.
Thank you.