Austerity policies blamed as English life expectancy stalls for first time in a century
pharmafile | February 25, 2020 | News story | Manufacturing and Production | England, NHS England, UCL, austerity, life expectancy
A landmark report has shown that English life expectancy has stalled for the first time in a century, and reversed for the poorest women in society.
The review was conducted by Sir Michael Marmot who had warned a decade ago that growing inequality in society would lead to worse health across the country. Marmot believes it could have been avoided and austerity policies facilitated this stalling and decline in life expectancy.
The report says that the government did not take the opportunity to improve people’s lives over the last decade, and cuts to people’s incomes are having long term effects on the nation’s health.
Marmot, who is also the director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity, said: “This damage to the nation’s health need not have happened. It is shocking. The UK has been seen as a world leader in identifying and addressing health inequalities but something dramatic is happening. This report is concerned with England, but in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the damage to health and wellbeing is similarly unprecedented.
“Austerity has taken a significant toll on equity and health, and it is likely to continue to do so. If you ask me if that is the reason for the worsening health picture, I’d say it is highly likely that is responsible for the life expectancy flat-lining, people’s health deteriorating and the widening of health inequalities.
“Poverty has a grip on our nation’s health – it limits the options families have available to live a healthy life. Government health policies that focus on individual behaviours are not effective. Something has gone badly wrong.”
Marmot’s report also said the worsening of England’s health cannot be blamed on the individual. Lack of access to education, employment, adequate income and a sustainable community to live and work in all have been caused by austerity policies, and have an impact of life expectancy.
Public funding cuts had the most impact on deprived communities outside of the south-east and London. Public sector spending on services went from 42% of GDP in 2009-10 to 35% in 2018-19. Some of the most deprived 20% of authorities, such as Liverpool, suffered the biggest funding cuts.
The report has called on the government to reduce child poverty to 10%, reduce poor quality and low paid work, and make sure the national living wage and benefits give people the minimum needed for a healthy life.
Conor Kavanagh
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