“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure(预防胜于治疗),” Benjamin Franklin’s adage goes. Yet that simple prescription has been hard to follow in the current NHS. As has been frequently highlighted, one of the biggest challenges for the health system is not just how much we spend per capita, but where and when it is spent.(正如经常强调的那样，医疗体系最大的挑战之一不仅在于人均支出多少，还在于资金花在何处、何时花出。) In England, there has been an ongoing shift within the NHS budget towards acute(急性的) hospital care – treating people in hospitals, often after they are already quite ill – while funding for primary care(初级医疗保健) such as GPs has fallen.
“一分预防胜于十分治疗”，本杰明·富兰克林的这句格言如是说。然而，在当前的国家医疗服务体系（NHS）中，这条简单的处方却难以遵循。正如人们经常强调的那样，医疗体系面临的最大挑战之一，不仅在于我们的人均支出有多少，还在于资金花在了何处、何时花出。在英格兰，NHS预算持续向急性医院护理倾斜——即在医院治疗病人，往往是在他们病情已经相当严重之后——而全科医生等初级护理的资金却有所下降。
The consequence is that the NHS is increasingly paying for serious and expensive disease treatment, rather than investing upstream(上游地；在源头) to prevent disease in the first place(首先；从一开始). We spend heavily on dealing with heart attacks, strokes and other life-threatening(危及生命的) conditions, rather than identifying those who are at higher risk and intervening earlier to reduce their chances of getting ill.
其后果是，NHS日益将资金用于严重且昂贵的疾病治疗，而非在源头投入以预防疾病的发生。我们花费巨资应对心脏病发作、中风和其他危及生命的疾病，而不是识别那些高风险人群并及早干预，以降低他们患病的几率。
So, it’s excellent news that the NHS in England will begin to offer free cholesterol tests, and the offer of a blood pressure check, in participating high street pharmacies for those aged 40 to 84. The nationwide phased(分阶段的) rollout(推广；推出) follows a pilot study(试点研究) in north London in which close to 2,500 patients were checked across 61 community pharmacies. Nineteen percent were found to be at high risk of(处于高风险中) a heart attack or stroke and were offered advice or referred(转诊) for medical treatment.
因此，英格兰NHS将在参与活动的高街药房为40至84岁人群提供免费胆固醇检测和血压检查，这无疑是个好消息。这项全国性的分阶段推广是在伦敦北部进行的一项试点研究之后进行的，该试点研究在61家社区药房为近2500名患者进行了检查。其中19%的人被发现心脏病发作或中风风险较高，他们获得了建议或被转诊接受治疗。