People living in poverty find it harder to live a healthy life and face barriers to accessing timely treatment, new research suggests.
A report by the King’s Fund, commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, finds that the delays people living in deprived communities face for 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 treat the health harms of poverty, wider government and societal action is needed to address its root causes.
Saoirse Mallorie, a senior analyst at the King’s Fund and senior author of the report, said: “Our analysis highlights that not only do people living in poverty have shorter lives, they also spend a higher proportion of their lives with health problems.
“To improve the nation’s health and use NHS resources in the best way, tackling poverty must be as much of a priority as bringing down waiting lists.
“While the NHS can do more to treat the symptoms of people experiencing poverty, it cannot alone address the root causes. Bolder action from government, economic and civic 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 30% of people living in the most deprived areas in the UK have turned to 999, 111, A&E or a walk-in centre because they were unable to access a GP appointment, compared with just 10% of people in the least deprived areas.
Hospital data shows a direct link between higher levels of deprivation and higher emergency admissions, while the increase in length of stay in critical care beds has been greater among more deprived groups.
Between 2017-18 and 2022-23 the average length of stay in critical care increased 27% for people in the most deprived communities but just 13% for the least deprived.
The analysis also identifies a pattern where, for some health conditions, prevalence is lower in the most deprived areas yet deaths from those conditions are higher.
The authors point to dementia, which is 1.4 times less prevalent in the most deprived areas of England compared with the least deprived, yet the mortality rate from it is 1.6 times higher.
A similar trend is seen with the heart condition atrial fibrillation, where people in deprived communities are 1.3 times less likely to suffer the condition, yet 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 come down, we are rewarding hard work by raising the national living wage and cutting taxes, and our back to work plan will break down barriers for over a million people to find, stay and succeed in work.”
