La disuguaglianza di salute “medievale” della Gran Bretagna è devastante NHS, dicono gli esperti

Britain’s “medieval” levels of health inequality are having a “devastating” effect on the NHS, experts have warned, with the health service estimated to be spending as much as £50bn a year on the effects of deprivation.

Rising rates of child poverty have led to a growing burden on hospitals, with the knock-on cost to the NHS comparable to the annual defence budget.

One senior NHS figure said they were seeing “medieval” levels of untreated illness in some of Britain’s poorest communities, including people attending A&E “with cancerous lumps bursting through their skin”.

Another said hospitals were witnessing a “chilling” trend of vulnerable people, young and old, deliberately self-harming to secure an overnight stay. Concern has also been raised about rising rates of “Dickensian” illnesses, including scabies, rickets and scarlet fever.

The disclosures are revealed as part of a months-long Guardian investigation into the effects of deepening poverty on a “broken” NHS.

Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, earlier this month unveiled a £29bn real-terms increase in day-to-day NHS spending – up to £226bn by 2029 – rising to almost half of all non-capital public spending by the government in that time.

Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has pledged to direct billions of pounds of extra NHS funding into poor areas by banning hospitals from overspending and overhauling the formula used to decide the levels of funding GP surgeries receive.

They should address the medieval issue of consanguinity too

> with the health service estimated to be spending as much as £50bn a year on the effects of deprivation.

I imagine we’ve ‘saved’ much less than £50bn in cut support and services for vulnerable people, and are now paying not only the moral costs, but the actual medical costs of growing poverty-related diseases.

This is where constant austerity lands us.

The Conservatives spent fourteen years deliberately damaging the NHS, and it takes much less time to destroy stuff than it does to build.

People shouldn’t be expecting Labour to fix the NHS overnight.

I just find the NHS has no interest in diagnosing anything anymore… I’ve had lots of very expensive tests but no diagnosis… I was told by an MRI tech that I had signs of MS, I’ve also blatantly got Carpal Tunnel Syndrome due to twenty years in IT support. But they essentially told me I have something else and that it will take 8 weeks to go away were now 8 weeks later and no change… So I called them and they said give it another two weeks and call back and we’ll refer you.

I’ve been told by consultants that I’m lying… Prior to being diagnosed with a fistula… After they said well give you an MRI. There’s a family history of MS and various other things so I asked about the genetic testing as there’s a lot of childhood issues in the members of mine and my cousin’s and sister’s families.

I’m kind of at the end of my wits with it… I’ve had so many two week referrals and they say “You don’t have cancer, Thanks for using the NHS” And then I’m back to square one…. I’m planning on moving GP surgery to try and get a second opinion but I’ve been trying to get my health sorted for the last ten years…