Introduction : the heart of the matter -- Words about words -- The modern plagues -- Sorrows in battalions -- Your loss is my loss : we all lose -- Deckchairs on the Titantic -- The appliance of science -- When things start to go wrong -- Knowing the unknown -- Risks that we can change -- Biological relativity -- Natural prevention -- Health is what we need -- Thinking outside the box -- The road to recovery -- Community change -- The tools for the job -- Your health is my health -- Postscript : the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Britain is sick and it needs saving. Covid-19 has revealed fundamental failures in public policy and our approach to health. For years, the same failures have perpetuated a host of modern plagues - long-running deadly epidemics in diabetes, depression, cancer and heart disease. These plagues pose systemic risks to society itself. In this timely book, Yuille and Ollier envisage a society that always puts the health of citizens first: the 'Health Society'. The time for dithering and tinkering has passed. Prevention of disease is a task for all branches of government - not just the NHS but also for every workplace, employer, community and citizen. The 'Health Society' means working in radically new ways to extend our healthy lives and sustainably increase national prosperity. Saving sick Britain follows the science and lays down a challenge to us all: are we ready to make the change required to end these modern plagues? In answering the question the book helps steer the reader towards rethinking what both 'prevention' and 'health' mean in modern Britain"-- Taken from publisher's website.