The mission of health and social care is to improve the health of populations and individuals

In previous decades the focus of healthcare was to reduce mortality and increase life-expectancy; however, that focus is now shifting to increasing healthy life-expectancy, although reducing the eight-year difference in life-expectancy between the most-affluent and the most-deprived groups in the population remains a priority.

There are three factors that determine the health of a population whether measured in terms of life-expectancy or healthy life-expectancy.

• The social determinants of health, for example, the level of deprivation, access to education and the quality of housing
• Public health risk-reduction services, for example, smoking-cessation support, tobacco taxation or screening
• Diagnostic and treatment services, that is, health and social care
• Public health risk-reduction services, for example, smoking-cessation support, tobacco taxation or screening
• health risk-reduction services, for example, smoking-cessation support, tobacco taxation or screening

Presenting these factors as a list can give rise to two misconceptions. I n previous decades the focus of healthcare was to reduce mortality and increase life-expectancy.Presenting these factors as a list can give rise to two misconceptions.Presenting these factors as a list can give rise to two misconceptions.Presenting these factors as a list can give rise to two misconceptions.