Health Gain: From Rhetoric to Reality

The concept of health gain is increasingly being used as a philosophical basis for the activities of health authorities, following the 1991 NHS reforms. A series of three multidisciplinary conferences were held to explore three health topics (coronary heart disease, antenatal screening for congenital malformations, and teenage planned parenthood) with respect to the management of health gain. A number of general issues are described which can be applied to any health problem. Particular issues include the importance of quantifying the problem using modelling techniques to identify nodal intervention points where an assessment of need for intervention can be made, problems in ensuring effective interventions are used, the necessity for intersectoral collaboration and the need to incorporate political reality into health gain management.