People living in poverty find it harder to live healthy lives and face barriers to getting timely treatment, new research suggests.
A report from the King’s Fund, Commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, it finds that the delays people in underserved communities experience in accessing healthcare mean they are more likely to need expensive emergency treatment.
The authors of the report, titled Illustrating the Relationship Between Poverty and NHS Services, write that while the NHS can address the health harms of poverty, broader government and social action is needed to tackle its root causes.
Saoirse Mallorie, senior analyst at the King’s Fund and senior author of the report, said: “Our analysis highlights that people living in poverty not only have shorter lives, but also spend a greater proportion of their lives with health problems.
“To improve the country’s health and make the best use of NHS resources, tackling poverty must be as much of a priority as reducing waiting lists.
“While the NHS can do more to treat the symptoms of people living in poverty, it cannot alone tackle the root causes. Stronger action from government, the economy and civil society is needed to lift millions of people out of poverty and break this vicious cycle of poverty and its impact on poor health.”
The report says that 30% of people living in Britain’s most deprived areas have turned to 999, 111, A&E or a walk-in center because they could not access a GP appointment, compared to just 10% of the people in the least deprived areas.
Hospital data show a direct link between higher levels of deprivation and higher emergency admissions, while increases in length of stay in intensive care beds have been greater among more deprived groups.
Between 2017-18 and 2022-23, the average length of stay in intensive care increased by 27% for people in the most deprived communities, but by only 13% for the least deprived.
The analysis also identifies a pattern where for some health conditions the prevalence is lower in the most deprived areas, while deaths from these conditions are higher.
The authors point to dementia, which is 1.4 times less common in the most deprived areas of England than in the least deprived, while the resulting mortality rate is 1.6 times higher.
A similar trend is seen in the heart condition atrial fibrillation, where people in deprived communities are 1.3 times less likely to suffer from the condition, while deaths from it are 1.6 times higher.
A government spokesperson said: “We are putting record funding into the NHS and there are 1.7 million fewer people living in absolute poverty compared to 2010, including 400,000 children.
“We continue to support people with cost of living support worth an average of £3,800 per household, and as inflation continues to fall, we reward hard work by raising the national living wage and cutting taxes, and our return to the work The plan will remove the barriers for more than a million people to find, stay and succeed in work.”