Austerity blamed for health inequalities in Northumberland

The study, from the Institute of Health Equity, says that there are growing regional inequalities, with life expectancy now lowest in the North East and highest in London.

Since 2010, life expectancy for men in the most deprived 10% of neighbourhoods decreased in three regions, including the North East, while for women in those neighbourhoods, it decreased in every region except London, the West Midlands and the North West.

For both men and women, the largest decreases were seen in the most deprived 10% of neighbourhoods in the North East and the largest increases in the least deprived 10% of neighbourhoods in London.

Overall, in the past decade, life expectancy in England has stalled, which has not happened since at least 1900, according to the report, a follow-up to the original Marmot Review 10 years ago.

Its author, Professor Sir Michael Marmot, says that these changes are not due to biological reasons or the impact of severe winters and virulent flu.

Nor can ‘they be attributed solely to problems with the NHS or social care – although declining funding relative to need in each sector will undoubtedly have played a role’, he states.

‘The increase in health inequalities in England points to social and economic conditions, many of which have shown increased inequalities, or deterioration since 2010.’

Coun Susan Dungworth, the leader of the Labour group in Northumberland, said: “It’s a disgrace that life expectancy has slowed for the first time in a century.

“This report makes for difficult, but sadly not surprising, reading. Tory austerity, as the report highlights, has indeed taken a huge toll and Northumberland has taken the brunt.

“In Northumberland, baby girls born in Cowpen, Blyth, have the second lowest life expectancy in the whole of the North East, with Teesside the worst. Travel the five miles between Cowpen to Cramlington North and there is a 16-year difference in life expectancy.

“Northumberland County Council has just cut £10million from its budget this year. The Tories need to take action and end austerity once and for all.”

During the budget debate, the authority’s Conservative leadership accepted that there were £10million-worth of ‘efficiencies’ identified, but highlighted that there were multimillion-pound overall increases in the budgets for adult and children’s services. The total revenue spending for 2020-21 is forecast to be around £17million higher than it was in 2019-20.

Council leader Peter Jackson also highlighted the significant spending commitments on projects including schools, leisure centres, town-centre regeneration and transport.

Coun Nick Oliver, the cabinet member for corporate services, said: “It isn’t a story of cuts, it’s a story of increased investment, increased spending and more efficient delivery.”

The authority, which was run by a Labour administration between 2013 and 2017, approved its decade-long Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy last year, which has four themes – Giving every child and young person the best start in life; Empowering people and communities; Tackling some of the wider determinants of health; Adopting a whole-system approach to health and care.

The overall success of the strategy will be monitored by changes in life expectancy, healthy life expectancy and the gap between Northumberland’s least and most deprived communities on those two measures.

The Marmot report says: ‘The national government has not prioritised health inequalities, despite the concerning trends and there has been no national health inequalities strategy since 2010.’

But it adds that ‘some local authorities and communities have established effective approaches to tackling health inequalities’.

One Northumberland-based initiative is included in the review as part of a case study on accessible debt advice – ‘Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust’s welfare rights team is funded by the NHS as part of its adult social care provision. It provides advice, training and support, mainly to staff in health and social care.’

What did others say?

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “I thank Professor Sir Michael Marmot for his dedicated work to shine a light on this vital issue. His findings show just how important this agenda is and renew my determination to level up health life expectancy across our country. After all, levelling up health is the most important levelling up of all.

“There is still much more to do and our bold prevention agenda, record £33.9billion-a-year investment in the NHS and world-leading plans to improve children’s health will help ensure every person can lead a long and healthy life.”

The chairman of the North East Child Poverty Commission, Jane Streather, said: “This new report paints a detailed and truly damning picture of the human cost of austerity – and the damaging, lifelong effects of spending decisions taken over the last ten years.

“It’s becoming increasingly clear that a generation of young people in the North East have had most of their childhoods blighted by the impact of spending cuts, and it’s not right that children and families in our region have borne the brunt of this.

“More than 200,000 children in the North East are now growing up poor. But – as Marmot makes very clear – there is nothing inevitable about child poverty.

“The Government must now set out – including at next month’s Budget – how it intends to invest in children and families, and dramatically reduce child poverty levels in the coming years.”

Coun Ian Hudspeth, chairman of the community wellbeing board of the Local Government Association, which represents councils, said: “This report is a significant wake-up call about the need to tackle the widening health inequalities across the country.

“Councils want to work with government on closing this gap by focusing on the social causes of ill-health, such as early years development, education and employment opportunities and improving services for older people.

“Sustainable, long-term investment in councils’ public health services is also needed if we are to reverse reductions in life expectancy and tackle health inequalities across the country.

“Councils know their communities best and are committed to improving their health. Through their services, councils help people live longer and in greater health, in better conditions while improving their emotional, mental and physical wellbeing.

“We have long argued that previous reductions to the public health grant have been a false economy, which only compound acute pressures for NHS and social care services further down the line.”