Poverty is taking a heavy toll on the UK’s health and NHS services, and tackling it should be as much of a priority as bringing down waiting lists, the King’s Fund has said.
A new analysis by the think tank, published on 18 March, illustrates the relation between poverty and NHS services.1
Commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the report shows that people in poverty find it harder to live a healthy life, have to live with greater illness, face barriers to getting timely care, are more likely to need expensive emergency treatment, and die younger than the rest of the population. The cost of travelling, difficulties in getting access to online services, and paying NHS charges all leave patients struggling to get NHS diagnoses and treatment, it warns.
Wider government and societal actions are needed to tackle …