Editorial: Health minister Mike Nesbitt's call for healthier lifestyles is to be welcomed

​Mike Nesbitt’s call for everyone to play their part in “turning around” our national health service by taking responsibility for our own health is to be welcomed.​

The health minister has warned that unless we take care of our own health and well-being, the health service will “never properly cope with demand”.

Referencing his own health struggles in recent years, the UUP leader said he was challenging himself and everyone else “to try to be a bit more active in our daily lives”.

“The benefits to individuals are clear, in terms of physical and mental well-being. However, it’s also important to society as a whole”, he said.

Personal responsibility for our own lives and health is crucial. The alternative, where the state is seen as ultimately responsible for the individual decisions we all make about how we look after ourselves, is not sustainable.

The health service cannot be sustained at its current level if the overall health of the population declines – particularly with people now living much longer.

However, many of the challenges facing our population’s health – whether here or across the rest of the country – can’t necessarily be fixed by willpower or healthier lifestyles.

Health is determined by a range of factors, and poverty plays a part. Mr Nesbitt has said in the past that it can never be acceptable that “women in our most deprived communities can expect to live 14 fewer years in good health” than those in better off areas.

While Mr Nesbitt is not suggesting that the NHS will stop providing healthcare for those who make unhealthy choices, we must be careful that people are not punished for lifestyle decisions which may be, in part, a product of their wider environment.