Assignment Two – Current patterns of ill health in the UK

M2: Discuss the factors likely to influence current and future patterns of health in the UK.

In the 21st century society there are two current factors that are very obvious in affecting patterns of health. These are that of social class affecting health and lifestyle choices.

There has always been a link between social class and health, even with the welfare state and the improvements made to health in all sections of societies over the years, a difference still remains in this area. This difference is applied to all aspects of health, which include life expectancy, general levels of health and infant mortality. Many people argue that as long as the quality of life is …show more content…

I have proved that obesity is on the rise and smoking rates have been decreasing in recent years however drinking is still rising. The bill for dealing with drunkenness and alcohol abuse, which causes problems such as liver disease, is nearly £3 billion a year, with the toll from smoking still being slightly more despite the progress made in driving down the rates of those smoking.

There are two main factors which I think will affect health in the future and these are age and the idea of genetics.

In most countries there are more and more people who are aged 60 years or over than any other age group and this is because of longer life expectancy and declining fertility rates. The population is an ageing population and people can look at this in the view that public health policies and socioeconomic development is having success on the population. On the other hand it provides a challenge for society to accept, adapt and become more in acquaintance with older people. Life expectancy has increased ever since the NHS was introduced for both genders and this trend is predicted to continue for many years to come.

Due to this ageing population that is obviously going to increase dramatically in the future then healthcare is going to be increasingly in demand. Since there will be more elderly people then there will be a range of conditions that will also increase as they are linked with age. These can