Category: #ToryPublicHealth

#ToryPublicHealth

Austerity to blame for 130,000 ‘preventable’ UK deaths – report

From The Observer: More than 130,000 deaths in the UK since 2012 could have been prevented if improvements in public health policy had not stalled as a direct result of austerity cuts, according to a hard-hitting analysis to be published this week.

The study by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) thinktank finds that, after two decades in which preventable diseases were reduced as a result of spending on better education and prevention, there has been a seven-year “perfect storm” in which state provision has been pared back because of budget cuts, while harmful behaviours among people of all ages have increased.

Had progress been maintained at pre-2013 rates, around 131,000 lives could have been saved, the IPPR concludes. Despite promises made during the NHS’s 70th birthday celebrations last year to prioritise prevention, the UK is now only halfway up a table of OECD countries on its record for tackling preventable diseases.

[Read full article on Guardian website…]

Tories ‘sneak out’ £85 million in public health cuts on day MPs leave for their Christmas break

From Welfare Weekly: The UK Government has been accused of attempting to “sneak out” further cuts to public health spending as MPs leave Parliament to begin their winter break.

Analysis by the Labour Party, backed up by the House of Commons Library, reveal that public health budgets will fall by £85 million next year, equal to £2 less per head or a drop of 3.3%.

Labour say the “devastating cuts” will affect vital public heath services such as stop smoking services, sexual health advice services and drug & alcohol misuse services for children and young people.

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary, said: “It’s outrageous the Government have tried to sneak out further devastating cuts to local specialist public health services without debate on the day Parliament rises for the Christmas break.

“Only a few weeks ago the Secretary of State told us prevention was his priority and yet today he is cutting specialist public health services by a further £85 million. It’s the clearest evidence yet that ministerial promises on the NHS are entirely hollow.

“These swingeing cuts will fall on a number of vital community based health services such as those that support for mothers and babies, tackle obesity, help people stop smoking, sexual health services and specialist drug and alcohol treatments.”

[Read full article on Welfare Weekly website…]

Tory cuts leave alcohol addiction services at breaking point warns Labour, as figures show record low in treatment

From The Independent: Cuts to council budgets for addiction services have led to lowest number of people receiving treatment for alcohol dependency in a decade despite people in need continuing to grow, data from the Labour Party shows.

[Read article on Independent website…]