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A LEADING doctor has calculated that the increase in life expectancy – which the UK has experienced for 100 years – has begun to slow. The rate of increase has nearly halved since 2010, and government austerity policies may be to blame.
Sir Michael Marmot, Director of the Institute of Health Equity at University College London, said that this trend was “highly unusual” and should be giving us all cause for concern. He pointed out that wealth is one of the best predictors of life expectancy. In Kensington & Chelsea, for example, the wealthiest residents live 16 years longer than the poorest.
The conjecture is that people have not been able to feed themselves healthily, leading to increased rates of obesity and killer conditions such as heart disease and strokes. People have had to work harder to hang on to jobs as employers have cut back – leading to people having less time to exercise and take proper rest.
The sudden drop over the last seven years coincides with the most recent years of Tory rule, which have seen benefits and wages drop as well as job losses and economic uncertainty and the use of emergency measures such as food banks.
These years have also seen a drop in funding of the NHS, which may have affected the quality of care which older people receive. The Alzheimer’s Society was quick to respond to Sir Michael’s announcement, announcing that the quality of care in the underfunded social care sector may also be decreasing and helping to slow down increases in life expectancy. It called on the Government to act quickly.
Sir Michael confirmed that public health teams should look at whether austerity is responsible for halting a century of progress – but the Government refused to wait for any serious research to emerge and declared that austerity was innocent ahead of any scientific investigation.
The Department of Health claimed that life expectancy “continues to increase” – which is true – and did not comment on the drop in the rate of increase, which is what Sir Michael’s work had uncovered. The Department also pointed out that cancer survival rates were up and the rate of smoking was going down. Both of these factors will improve life expectancy – but given that the figures show the rate of increase is declining, these positive factors could be masking an even more worrying overall drop in the life expectancy rate.
Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, said, “Sir Michael Marmot rightly raises his concerns around inadequate health and social care funding, especially compared with other Western European countries. Theresa May’s sustained underfunding of our health service is clearly damaging life chances of the most vulnerable in our society. The next Labour Government will ensure our health and care system is properly funded so our children are given the best possible start in life, and older people are treated with the respect and dignity they deserve.”
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