MP urges action on health inequalities

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Chi Onwurah calls on the government to look again at the "profound consequences" of their failure to properly address health inequalities.

The people of Newcastle are more likely to die earlier from cancer, heart disease and stroke. We tend to die younger, are more obese as children, and are more likely to die from the cold as pensioners. We suffer more from the diseases of our industrial legacy, like Asbestosis.

These inequalities are not unique to Newcastle. Thanks to the Public Health Observatories set up by the last Labour government we have quite a comprehensive view of inequalities in health across the country.

Every year 37,000 people, enough to fill a modern football stadium, die in the North earlier than their counterparts in the South.

A report published in the British Medical Journal last year said that 'the excess toll of ill health and disability in the North was decimating the region at the rate of one major city every decade”

That undermines not only the idea that 'we are all in this together' but the very concept of national unity.

At a time when the Scottish Government is seeking a referendum on independence, does it help the case of those who believe in the Union, as I do, that someone born in Glasgow is likely to die 14 years earlier than someone born in Kensington and Chelsea?

As well as the human cost there is the economic impact. Every year health inequalities cost £31-£33bn in lost productivity, £20-32bn in lost taxes and higher welfare payments, and £5.5bn in additional healthcare costs . Given all the evidence shows that health is linked to levels of deprivation, this creates a vicious circle.

In government Labour prioritised health inequalities and was making some progress, although the reality of socio-economic inequality cannot be overcome quickly.

But this government's policies will make health inequalities worse.

Firstly, and against the advice of the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation, they have reduced the health inequalities component of the PCT target funding allocation from 15 per cent to 10 per cent –in effect taking money away from areas of poor health such as the North East to give to areas of relative good health. Newcastle we will lose 2.5 per cent whereas the Health secretary's constituency will see a rise of 2.1 per centh

Secondly, the unnecessary top-down re-organisation of the NHS will distract resources away from public health and make it incredibly difficult for Hospital Trusts to meet their challenge for efficiency. Whilst handing the responsibility for public health to Local Authorities should increase local control, the new bureaucracy the government is creating will delay its effectiveness at a time when auhtorities are facing massive cuts.

Thirdly the wholesale marketisation of the NHS introduces the prospect of inequalities in service access which go far beyond the occasional post code lotteries we have today.

As an MP I believe my primary concern has to be the health and wellbeing of my constituents. I am sure many MPs feel the same. I hope tomorrow's debate will highlight to the government the profound consequences of their failure to properly address health inequalities.

Chi Onwurah has been Labour MP for Newcastle Central since 2010.