The Chronicle (South Tyneside and Durham)
Report shows declining health in North East
CALL FOR ACTION AS ‘LACK OF INVESTMENT’ SET TO ‘WIDEN THE REGIONAL INEQUALITIES’
PEOPLE in the North East will face decades longer in poorer health than those in the South East and London, according to yet another report laying bare the stark NorthSouth divide.
In our region, healthy life expectancy - the years we can expect to live without significant medical problems impacting on our quality of life - is actually declining, and the report from think-tank Institute for Public Policy Research North (IPPR) suggests the gap between what we can expect and that of people in the south isn’t going to change any time soon. In fact, according to the report - presented at last week’s Convention of the North - it could be 2080 before the picture changes. The North East is the worst performing region of England by this measure, with researchers saying we face “systemic and pronounced inequalities”.
The report also highlighted how there is growing wealth inequality, both in the North East compared to rest of the country and between smaller areas within our region itself.
IPPR North research fellow Marcus Johns said: “No-one should be condemned to live a shorter, sicker, less fulfilling, or poorer life simply because of where they were born. Yet, that is what our regional inequalities offer today as gaps in healthy life expectancy and wealth endure over the generations, demanding urgent action if we are to change course.
“It’s hard to avoid the conclusion we are headed in the wrong direction on inequality in health, wealth, power, and opportunity while local government finances languish in chaos. This is a crucial year for elections, locally and nationally, and Westminster cannot afford to ignore the state of the North.
“We know there are ready-to-go policies that will help arrest and reverse these problems and grasping them could make this year the year that kickstarts a decade of regional renewal.”
The IPPR is calling for “Germanstyle levels” of investment in England’s regions to the tune of £7.6 billion a year over 15 years. It said one option for raising the cash to do this would be a wealth tax worth up to £13bn a year. This comes as leading figures from Newcastle University and the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust have joined counterparts across the North of England to write to the Government demanding “levelling up” encompasses a fairer distribution of health and life sciences investment.
Professors David Burn and John Isaacs, of the university and hospital trust respectively, signed a letter from the Northern Health Science Alliance following analysis which showed there are single buildings in London and the South East which received more health research money than the entirety of the North. The NHSA said the “Greater South East” saw funding that was more than two and a half times higher per person than in the North - £68.58 compared to £25.72, respectively.
In the letter, signed by leading health figures and academics from a range of Northern cities, the writers said: “We are calling on you to urgently increase investment in health research across the North of England. Funding for health research in the Greater South East is more than two and a half times higher per person than that in the North.
“In 2022 the North received £405m for research funding, compared to the £1.69bn awarded to London, Oxford and Cambridge. The continued lack of investment is stifling economic growth in the UK and widening the North-South health divide.
“Poor health accounts for onethird of the productivity gap between the North and the rest of the UK, at a cost of £13.2bn a year. Analysis by the Northern Health Science Alliance shows that increasingly centralised investment in the South East is having a detrimental impact on health and the economy across the North.”
A Government spokesperson said: “Levelling Up is a long-term programme of reform that sits at the heart of our ambition as a Government. We have committed £13bn to levelling up, which is supporting projects to improve everyday life for people across the UK - regenerating town centres and high streets, local transport and cultural and heritage assets.”
We are heading in the wrong direction on inequality in health, wealth, power and opportunity