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Welcome to Health Promotion

Health Promotion (HP)

  • Health promotion is a fundamental part of general practice, centred on empowering individuals and communities to take pro-active steps in managing their health and improving long term well-being. It extends beyond the prevention of illness to include the active promotion of physical, mental, and social health at every stage of life. GPs are uniquely positioned to deliver health promotion through opportunistic advice during consultations, structured interventions, and engagement with broader public health initiatives. Whether supporting lifestyle changes, advocating for vaccination, promoting mental well-being, or addressing social determinants of health, GPs play a vital role in helping patients make informed choices and reduce their risk of disease. Effective health promotion requires strong communication skills, cultural sensitivity, and an understanding of the wider factors that influence health behaviours. This chapter outlines the key principles, strategies, and practical approaches to integrating health promotion into everyday clinical care. 

    • HP1. Promote health across the lifespan encompassing infant and child health, women’s and men’s health, and the health of older adults, ensuring the delivery of age-appropriate, evidence based preventative care and support for wellbeing at every stage of life.
    • HP2. Utilise clinical encounters as opportunities to support behaviour change through brief interventions, motivational interviewing and shared decision making, tailoring advice to the individuals’ context and readiness to change.
    • HP3. Support patients to take proactive measures to maintain positive mental health
    • HP4. Explain the benefits, risks, and limitations of national screening programmes to patients and their families, supporting informed decision-making.
    • HP5. Support early detection and risk reduction through appropriate use of opportunistic screening and preventative care strategies.
    • HP6. Educate individuals and communities on the benefits of immunisation, implementation of the national vaccination schedule effectively, addressing vaccine hesitancy using clear evidence-informed and culturally sensitive communication.
    • HP7. Collaborate with other healthcare professionals and communities to promote health and well-being at individual, community, and population levels.
    • HP8. Promote health equity and reduce health inequality by promoting equitable access to care, tailoring health promotion strategies to the needs of underserved populations, and addressing the influence of socioeconomic, cultural, and structural factors on health outcomes.
    • HP9. Demonstrate an understanding of planetary health by incorporating sustainable healthcare practices into clinical care, promoting active travel and low-carbon living, supporting environmentally responsible service delivery, and educating patients on the health impacts of climate change.
    • HP10. Ensure good personal health and well-being within the workplace, recognising how workplace factors influence healthcare delivery, while effectively managing both personal and professional responsibilities.
    • HP11. Promote the health and wellbeing within the workplace by addressing work-related health risks, supporting mental and physical health and implementing strategies for stress management, injury prevention and workplace safety.
    • HP12. Demonstrate an understanding of the fundamental pillars of lifestyle medicine and apply evidence-based lifestyle interventions to promote health, prevent disease, and support long-term patient wellbeing.

    For each problem or disease, consider the following areas within the general context of primary care:  

    • The natural history of the condition, including whether acute or chronic
    • The incidence and prevalence, including in different demographic groups
    • Typical and atypical presentations
    • Recognition of normal variations throughout life
    • Risk factors, including lifestyle, socio-economic and genetic factors
    • Diagnostic features and differential diagnosis
    • Recognition of ‘alarm’ or ‘red flag’ features
    • Appropriate and relevant investigations
    • Interpretation of test results
    • Management, including initial and continuing care, chronic disease monitoring and emergency care
    • Patient and carer information and education
    • Prognosis

    Symptoms, Signs and Presentations

    Almost any presentation offers an opportunity for health promotion, here are some common relevant presentations: 

    • Elevated blood pressure
    • Raised cholesterol
    • Weight Gain
    • Incidental hyperglycemia
    • Musculoskeletal Pain related to physical inactivity or poor ergonomics
    • Fatigue
    • Excessive Alcohol Intake
    • Substance misuse
    • Stress
    • Low Mood
    • Presentation for travel vaccines or routine immunisations
    • Women’s health reviews (e.g., cervical smear, contraception reviews)
    • Men's health consultations (e.g., erectile dysfunction, prostate discussions)
    • Adolescent health checks (e.g., sexual health, HPV vaccination)
    • Routine medication reviews (offering opportunities to review lifestyle risks)

    Common and Important Conditions

    • Asthma
    • Breast cancer
    • Cervical cancer
    • Childhood obesity
    • Chronic back pain
    • Cognitive health promotion
    • Colorectal cancer
    • Depression and anxiety disorders
    • Eating disorders
    • Falls prevention
    • Harmful alcohol use reduction
    • HPV-related disease prevention (through vaccination programmes)
    • Hyperlipidaemia
    • Hypertension
    • Immunisation uptake
    • Ischaemic heart disease
    • Metabolic syndrome
    • Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)
    • Obesity
    • Osteoporosis
    • Peripheral arterial disease
    • Physical inactivity
    • Polypharmacy management
    • Poor diet
    • Poor sleep hygiene
    • Sexually transmitted infections
    • Skin cancer
    • Smoking cessation
    • Smoking-related diseases (e.g., COPD)
    • Stress and burnout prevention
    • Stroke and transient ischaemic attack (TIA)
    • Substance misuse
    • Type 2 diabetes mellitus
    • Unplanned pregnancy

  • Wherever possible learning resources included here are peer reviewed and externally maintained. This is to ensure that trainees have access to quality assured information that is kept up to date.

    Self-Directed 

    Workplace Based Learning

    Workplace-based learning provides daily opportunities to integrate health promotion into real-world clinical practice. In general practice, nearly every consultation offers a "teachable moment" to address lifestyle factors, encourage preventive care, and support patients in making positive health changes. Trainees can learn to identify risk factors such as smoking, obesity, poor diet, or physical inactivity during routine consultations and develop strategies to engage patients in supportive, non-judgmental conversations about behaviour change. Managing chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes, and COPD also reinforces the importance of lifestyle interventions alongside medical treatment. Observing experienced GPs model brief interventions, motivational interviewing techniques, and patient-centred goal setting can help trainees build their own confidence and skills in delivering effective health promotion. In hospital settings, opportunities arise through discharge planning, preventive advice for at-risk groups, and reinforcing vaccination and screening messages. Reflecting on these encounters supports the development of a proactive, preventive approach to patient care.

    Day Release

    Day release sessions provide an excellent opportunity to explore the principles and practice of health promotion in a structured, reflective environment. Through case-based discussions, trainees can examine how to incorporate preventive strategies into everyday consultations, from encouraging smoking cessation and healthy eating to promoting vaccination uptake and cancer screening. Topics such as motivational interviewing, shared decision-making, and addressing health inequalities can be explored in depth. Sessions can also focus on key areas highlighted in international guidelines, such as the importance of physical activity; widely recognised as one of the most effective and universally beneficial interventions for improving long-term health. Sharing experiences from different practices and reflecting on challenges in promoting behaviour change can help build confidence and practical strategies for integrating health promotion into all areas of clinical care.

    Registrar Tutorials

    Registrar tutorials offer a focused opportunity to apply health promotion principles to real cases from clinical practice. These sessions can be used to explore how lifestyle factors contribute to common presentations, discuss techniques for delivering brief interventions, and reflect on strategies for motivating patients to make sustainable changes. Topics such as smoking cessation, weight management, mental well-being, and promoting physical activity can be tailored to the trainee’s needs. Tutorials also provide space to consider barriers to health promotion, including health literacy, social determinants of health, and patient readiness for change. With the guidance of a trainer, trainees can develop practical, patient-centred approaches to embedding health promotion into routine consultations, ensuring it becomes a natural and effective part of their clinical practice.

  • Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) underpin workplace-based assessment in this curriculum. Each EPA represents an integrated clinical task that General Practitioners must perform safely and independently, assessed through direct or indirect observation in real clinical settings.

    The curriculum and EPA framework are closely aligned: the curriculum defines the required knowledge, skills, and professional behaviours, while EPAs assess their application in practice. Together, they create a coherent approach to developing and demonstrating readiness for independent clinical work.

    The examples show how specific activities within general practice & chapters of the curriculum align with particular EPAs.

     EPA 11: Manage the health promotion and preventive health needs of adults, including older people

    A patient presenting for a routine chronic disease review provides an opportunity to demonstrate EPA 11. If the GP Trainer observes the consultation, a PIP-C can be used to assess delivery of opportunistic screening, motivational interviewing for smoking cessation, and discussion of vaccination updates. A succinct case entry could be: “chronic disease review with health promotion focus.” Reflection should explore strategies to support behaviour change, address health inequalities, and tailor advice to individual readiness and cultural context.

    Core Knowledge Test (CKT)

    • Smoking cessation management.
    • Opportunistic Screening.
    • Management of obesity.[NF1] 

    Clinical Competency Test (CCT)

    • A smoker attends wishing to quit smoking.
    • A patient attends for advice on losing weight before a wedding.
    • A man requests a prostate check after turning 50.

    Disclaimer: The examples provided within this section are intended to be indicative only and are included to illustrate how elements of the curriculum may be assessed in the Clinical Competency Test (CCT).

    Examination questions in the CCT test the ability of candidates to integrate knowledge, skills, and professional behaviours across multiple curriculum areas to address the challenges posed by the question.

    The indicative content should therefore be used solely as a general guide as to some of the topics that may be introduced. Actual examination questions will assess a greater depth and complexity of understanding than the illustrative examples provided.

    Please note that a number of CCT questions will require candidates to undertake a physical examination of the simulated patient. In some circumstances, for example in the case of an intimate examination, candidates may be required to display their examination skills through use of a manikin or other device.