Poverty’s toll on the nation’s health is a ‘mounting catastrophe’

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) is warning that the nation’s health can’t be protected only through NHS reform, as new JRF-backed research by the King’s Fund health and care think tank exposed the staggering toll poverty is taking on NHS services.

With almost four million people in the UK facing destitution in a single year, and around two million families forced to switch off fridges or freezers, the effects of poverty are tangible and felt in all parts of the NHS. The research found a direct correlation between deprivation and emergency admissions to hospital, indicating that poverty is worsening health as well as affecting access to services.

JRF is calling on politicians to “get serious about tackling hardship” as part of their pitch to the public ahead of the general election, as the effects of deep poverty risk becoming a “mounting catastrophe” in years to come.

The research provides proof of what clinicians and poverty experts have observed – that people living in poverty experience greater illness, find it harder to access treatment and die earlier than the rest of the population.

For some health conditions, mortality rates are higher even if prevalence is lower – for examples with atrial fibrillation, people in deprived communities are 1.3 times less likely to suffer the condition yet deaths from it are 1.6 times higher.

Paul Kissack, Chief Executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said “As we approach a general election, any political leader serious about turning the tide on worsening health in our country, and protecting the NHS, needs to get serious about tackling poverty and hardship. Deep poverty is driving pressure into an already overstretched health service. With acute health care running hot, no serious plan for our NHS can be made that doesn’t address poverty.

“And improving the nation’s health goes well beyond the NHS. We live in a country where millions of people – including a million children – face destitution, going without essentials such as food, toothpaste or warm clothes. This scale of hardship risks a mounting catastrophe for the nation’s health.

“For the sake of people’s dignity, their health and to protect their NHS, it is time for political leaders to get serious about tackling hardship – addressing poverty as the essential foundation for improving the nation’s health and wellbeing.”