RSPH and the Institute of Healthcare Management fully support all the priorities identified in the Nuffield Trust's report 'Health and social care priorities for the Government: 2015–2020' and are particularly pleased by the recommendation for the government to reconnect with the core NHS workforce. Without an engaged and empowered workforce, no amount of extra funding will be enough to realise the ambitions espoused in the NHS Five Year Forward View.

Disenchantment and frustration is common story throughout the NHS - from the over-worked and undervalued GP practice managers, through the overloaded GPs seeking early escape through retirement, to the managers tired of the regular bashings they receive from both the media and politicians.

The Nuffield Trust notes that the NHS is struggling to attract and retain high-quality leaders. This is hardly surprising when managers are trying to find ways to deliver better patient care while their hands are tied by financial constraint, unrealistic targets and lack of support.

New and healthier conversations need to be started between the Government and managers, as well as between managers and their clinical counterparts, to make possible the new ways of working that are so desperately needed if patient care is to be improved.

The agreed prevention agenda is one way to relieve some of the pressure our NHS faces, however this will only come to fruition if responsibility for health improvement is spread wider. We currently have 19.5 million people spanning over 170 different occupations – from pharmacists and physiotherapists to fire fighters and hairdressers.

By providing simple training and support we can ensure this wider public health workforce is equipped to have healthy conversations designed to address non-communicable diseases caused by behaviours including alcohol misuse and smoking.