Mindless cuts in public health

There is an olde adage that prevention is better than cure. This is why investment in public health is vital. In the end, it pays for itself in a healthy workforce and productivity and reduces the burden on overstretched clinical services. That much is obvious. But not to the government.

Funding on public health has been a significant victim of mindless austerity.

A report published this week shows how the cuts have had a devastating effect, and this has been particularly acute in the most deprived areas of the country with swingeing cuts in, for example, sexual health services, health protection and advice, drug and alcohol services.

Almost £1 in every £7 cut from public health services has come from England’s ten most deprived communities - compared to just £1 in every £46 in the country’s ten least deprived places.

This is another reason why mindless austerity has been both economically blinkered and morally wrong. It is ethically wrong because it penalised the poorest and least advantaged, while the government ring-fenced the wealthiest.

The cuts in the most deprived areas have been six times more savage than those in better-off regions.

This has been one of the most disgraceful features of the Tory government's mindless cruelty.

This is also why the choice facing voters in the general election is so vital. Do we want to create a fair society, or do we want to continue pulling the country further apart with the most impoverished suffering most?

Comments

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The Thin End

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