The UK press has been dominated recently with the ongoing pay disputes between workers unions and the government, many mass media news channels just regurgitating government statements – but where is the focus on the huge drop in living standards? the huge increase of food banks (poverty stations) ..
Why are some of the supposedly most wealthy countries in the world experiencing a dip in living standards and life expectancy?
Ok so there are different issues across both sides of the pond (the Atlantic) .. and this is also above just the impact of Covid (because life expectancy was dropping before Covid).. So whats going on – where supposedly developed modern countries are having the same problem.
Issues including:
– The rise in depression and stress
– The drop in health care coverage
– The drop in living standards
The US perspective on this problem, listening to Krystal Kyle & Friends Podcast below, but this issue has been affecting the UK as well since the affects of austerity politics and the cutback on healthcare standards and rise in mental health problems.
Specific to the UK but this will also be a factor in the USA – the postcode lottery of where you live and your quality of life. In England life expectancy varies by nearly 30 years depending on where you live..
This is going to become more and more an issue with the ongoing cost of living crisis – specific to the countries who are worse hit by the problem. Life expectancy was declining before the Covid crisis, according to a new report revealing huge regional health inequality.
The study found that in 2019, male life expectancy was 95.3 in one part of London’s Kensington and Chelsea, compared with just 68.3 in one part of Blackpool.
Among women, life expectancy in an area of Camden, London, was 95.4 years, compared 74.7 in one part of Leeds.
Across the country between 2014 and 2019, life expectancy fell in almost one in five communities for women, and one in nine communities for men, researchers from Imperial College London (ICL) found.
‘Declines in life expectancy used to be rare in wealthy countries like the UK, and happened when there were major adversities like wars and pandemics. For such declines to be seen in ‘normal times’ before the pandemic is alarming, and signals ongoing policy failures to tackle poverty and provide adequate social support and health care.’
The researchers concluded urgent action must be taken to stop the deterioration and improve health in disadvantaged communities.
Professor Ezzati added: ‘The post-Covid “Build Back Better” agenda can create an opportunity for better health, but it currently does not focus on equity and the resources allocated to (the) “levelling up” agenda are too little to address these concerning trends.
In the UK patients are now often forced to wait more than 30 hours for beds in A&E as NHS crisis deepens ..
Patients have been left lying on the floor in pain at A&E waiting rooms as they are forced to wait for up to two days for a bed.
Many NHS Trusts are currently telling patients not to attend A&E unless their condition is ‘life-threatening’, with hospitals facing extreme demand this winter.
Eyewitnesses have painted a bleak picture of the health service, saying doctors have been forced to treat people in corridors and in the back of ambulances while surrounded by other patients.
A patient at Royal Liverpool Hospital said: ‘There was a woman in the waiting room who was vomiting into bowls, but there were no staff around to help her so other members of the public were helping her to clear it up.
Is it any wonder that people are dying needlessly.
