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Austerity in England linked to more than 50,000 extra deaths in five years

Austerity

Austerity in England linked to more than 50,000 extra deaths in five years

Austerity cuts to the NHS, public health and social care have killed tens of thousands more people in England than expected, according to the largest study of its kind.

Researchers who analysed the joint impact of cuts to healthcare, public health and social care since 2010 found that even in just the following four years the spending squeeze was linked with 57,550 more deaths than would have been expected. The findings, worse than previously thought, were revealed in the journal BMJ Open.

The research by the University of York also found that a slowdown in life expectancy improvement coincided with the government’s sharp cuts to health and social care funding after David Cameron came to power a decade ago.

“Restrictions on the growth in health and social care expenditure during ‘austerity’ have been associated with tens of thousands more deaths than would have been observed had pre-austerity expenditure growth been sustained,” said Prof Karl Claxton of the Centre for Health Economics at the University of York.

“Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that the slowdown in the rate of improvement in life expectancy in England and Wales since 2010 is attributable to spending constraints in the healthcare and social care sectors.”

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, described the findings as shocking and said they were proof that the government’s austerity drive had deepened health inequalities across the country.

“This is a devastating verdict on a decade of Tory austerity in healthcare,” he said. “The test of ‘levelling up’ will be ministers properly funding social care and public health to now tackle these inequalities.”

Separate research by Imperial College London, published in the Lancet Public Health journal, found life expectancy in many communities in England was falling even before the pandemic.

While life expectancy rose in most places during the first decade of the millennium, from 2010 in some areas it started to decline. By 2014 that deterioration had accelerated, researchers discovered, with life expectancy falling for women in almost one in five communities (18.7%), and for men in one in nine places (11.5%).

The worst-hit areas were typically in urban areas in the north. They include Blackpool, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle.

Researchers have made various attempts at calculating the true impact of the austerity measures led by Cameron. But the University of York study is the first to jointly analyse the effect of the significant slowdown in NHS, public health and social care spending on death rates in England.

Researchers said real social care spending rose by 2.2% per capita of the population between 2001-02 and 2009-10, but fell by 1.57% between 2010-11 and 2014-15. The loss of social care funding caused 23,662 additional deaths, according to the findings.

Real healthcare spend per capita rose by 3.82% between 2001-02 and 2009-10, but only by 0.41% between 2010-11 and 2014-15. The cuts to healthcare spending between 2010-11 and 2014-15 led to 33,888 extra deaths, the researchers calculated.

In total, the study suggested the constraints on health and social care spending during this period of austerity have been associated with 57,550 more deaths up to 2014 than would have been expected if funding had stayed at pre-2010 levels.

David Finch, an assistant director of healthy lives at the Health Foundation thinktank, said the study showed why ministers must now put health at the “front and centre” of their levelling-up agenda.

Even before Covid, he said, there was “an extremely concerning pattern of stalling life expectancy, particularly in the poorest areas of the country”. The pandemic had “since laid bare the tragic consequences of underlying poor health”, he said.

“As we plan the pandemic recovery, there is an urgent need to ensure that we don’t repeat mistakes made during the recovery from the financial crisis. This includes tackling the backlog of NHS care and fixing social care, but also providing security for the many families that are struggling financially. Policies such as the cut to universal credit run counter to this objective,” Finch said.

“To meet the scale of this challenge, government needs to put improving health at the front and centre of all major policies, including levelling up. This will require action on everything from housing and employment to education and transport.”

Boris Johnson last month pledged a £12bn-a-year cash injection to help the NHS catch up after the pandemic and to overhaul social care. Household budgets will take a hit from next April when employees’ national insurance contributions will rise by 1.25% to pay for the funding boost.

The Department of Health and Social Care has been approached for comment.

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Health

We will closely align with development-focused org to enhance quality healthcare – Tinubu

President Bola Tinubu says the federal government will continue to partner reputable organizations such as Rotary International in ongoing efforts to eradicate all forms of polio and reduce the prevalence of maternal and infant mortality in the country.

President Tinubu, who received Rotary International President, Mr. Gordon Mclnally, his wife, Heather; Rotary’s Polio Ambassador to Nigeria, Sir Emeka Offor, and other notable Rotarians, on Friday, at the State House in Abuja, commended the organization for its various interventions in the country’s health sector, including a new grant of $14 million to enable the World Health Organization (WHO) provide technical assistance to the government of Nigeria on polio surveillance.

The President declared that it is a national obligation for the government to prioritize the welfare of Nigerians, support their advancement, and ensure that they are not hindered by any form of disease.

”It is a joy to have the President of Rotary International, his wife, Sir Emeka Offor, and other Rotarians in our midst. Thank you for representing a great commitment to humanity. Thank you for the job you are doing. Rotary International has a good reputation on social commitment, not only for the leading role it played in the eradication of polio in Africa, but also in addressing other diseases.

”You have saved countless mothers and children. You are also contributing to the growth of local economies by helping nations combat unforeseen diseases and deaths. You are doing a great job in the protection of the environment and other areas of humanitarian commitment,” President Tinubu said.

The President acknowledged the contributions of volunteers from Rotary Clubs in Nigeria who have been instrumental in supporting polio eradication initiatives in the country.

”Whatever is necessary for us to do, I want to assure you that the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare and his team will be on call and available at any time,” the President stated.

The President of Rotary International, Mr. Gordon McInally, while lauding President Tinubu’s longstanding reputation for supporting healthcare interventions for disadvantaged Nigerians throughout his public service career, offered honorary Rotary membership to the Nigerian leader in recognition of his past and present efforts to rapidly enhance Nigeria’s health sector.

Earlier in his remarks, Mr. Mclnally highlighted Nigeria’s support for global polio eradication efforts and polio-free status, having been certified as a polio-free nation in 2020, against the backdrop of only 12 polio cases recorded worldwide last year, which were concentrated on the Afghan-Pakistan border.

”The polio eradication campaign has been our flagship programme for many years. Over the years, we have been working on it, and we have seen Nigeria certified polio-free a few years ago.

”We have reduced the incidence from over 350,000 cases of polio worldwide every year to only 12 cases last year, in the Afghan-Pakistan border. So, we are on the verge of eliminating polio from the world, but we could not have achieved this without the active support of Nigeria. We thank you very much for everything that you have done.

”We must remain vigilant and continue our efforts in this field. Rotarians here in Nigeria are tirelessly working to ensure that children worldwide do not suffer from any crippling disease that can even take their lives,” he said.

Mr. McInally further pledged that the organization would continue to collaborate with the Nigerian government on programmes to reduce infant and maternal mortality.

”It is only by working together with governments that we can achieve great things,” he concluded.

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Health

500 Patients Have Benefitted From Ogun Free Surgical Intervention Programne In One Week – Abiodun

L-R: Director Hospital Services, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Jimoh Salaudeen; Chief Medical Director, University of Uyo Teaching Hospital and Chairman, Committee of Chief Medical Directors and Medical Directors of Federal Tertiary Hospitals in Nigeria, Prof. Emem Bassey; Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun and the Chief Medical Director of the Federal Medical Center, Idi-Aba, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Prof. Musa Olomu during a courtesy visit to the Governor's Office at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, on Thursday.

Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun has disclosed that over 500 surgeries have been performed on patients under his administration’s Free Surgical Intervention Programme in the last one week.

Governor Abiodun made the disclosure when he received the Committee of Chief Medical Directors and Medical Directors of Federal Tertiary Hospitals in Nigeria who paid him a courtesy call in his office at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta on Thursday.

The governor said the free surgery programme was designed to provide succour to the poor and vulnerable who could not afford medical bills at this difficult time.

He said his government has also done a lot to improve the healthcare sector in the Gateway State since 2019.

Prince Abiodun said: “We have also implemented our Health Insurance Programme called Ilera Dero and the Ibidero for the women. As of now, because of the prevalent economic situation, we have decided that all our women and children, the poor and vulnerable should go to our Primary Healthcare Centres and secondary or tertiary hospitals in the state. We will register them under our Free Health Insurance Programme.

“Our pregnant women, when they go to the hospital, they get free pre and post-natal attention. After they put to bed, they also get N10,000.”

Governor Abiodun disclosed that the state is creating a database that would track a family or community, and the kind of disease prevalent among them as well as compiling records at the grassroots that would enable the government to predict predominant diseases that are in the family, community or area and treat them appropriately.

Speaking on the situation at the 250-bed hospital located at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, the governor noted that his administration is collaborating with a partner, as part of its medical architecture, to run and make it a centre of medical excellence, to engender medical tourism in the country.

Prince Abiodun noted that medical institutions in the state are wearing new looks as his government has employed a large number of medical personnel and purchased new equipment to make them render quality service to the people.

The state helmsman described the relationship between the state’s Ministry of Health and the Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta, as cordial.

“We do not see the difference between the FMC, Abeokuta, and our own Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH), because when there is a problem, we rush the patient to the nearest available medical facility. This has, over the years, helped us in dealing with difficult situations,” he added.

He commended the Committee for initiating the meeting, noting that it would help them review each other’s research, development, and new techniques that could be of assistance in dealing with different types of illnesses and diseases.

Speaking earlier, chairman of the Committee and Chief Medical Director, University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Uyo, Prof Emem Bassey, commended Governor Abiodun for investing in the health sector, emphasizing that the increased funding, recruitment of different categories of health workers and renovation of over 100 Primary Healthcare Centres across the state, was worthy of note.

He said the Committee members, consisting of all heads of federal medical institutions, were in the state for its 106th Regular Meeting to review and learn from each other to impact positively in their different hospitals at the end of the meeting.

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Health

No more leave of absence for health workers, Minister declares

The Minister of State for Health, Dr Tunji Alausa, has announced a new policy prohibiting health workers from taking leave of absence.

He also informed the public of the ministry’s plan to recruit 120,000 additional nurses.

“The government has put a rule in place that says healthcare workers can’t take time off if they want to work abroad,” he said.

He added that if health workers wanted to go abroad for better opportunities, they would have to quit their jobs.

Alausa revealed this on Saturday during his visit to the Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital in Aro, Ogun State.

According to him, President Bola Tinubu’s Executive Order addresses brain drain in the health sector, otherwise known as ‘Japa Syndrome’.

He also declared that the yearly number of nurse recruitment increased significantly from about 28,000 to 68,000 in 2023.

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