https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jul/23/long-term-sickness-in-uk-economy-health
With extended life expectancy Britain has wound up an increasingly sick nation – and experts say that this is as bad for GDP as it is for our health
Active travel should be a key part of this. People need to switch from driving to walking and cycling.
Fewer cars on the road will also improve air quality in cities.
I get what you mean but I find anti car rhetoric way too overdone.
Given the topic is about health issues there's going to be a lot of people who have limited mobility so cycling isn't viable and walking may only be short distances. Therefore a car provides them freedom they need.
I agree cars are indispensable in certain cases but that shouldn't detract from the need to reduce journeys by car. In London 1 in 3 schools are close to roads with illegal levels of N02 pollution. Improving air quality is critical to preventing damage to young lungs as well as improving road safety.
Oh, for sure in London or any other dense area where public transport is abundant, and taxis run 24/7 there is no need for cars.
That's where a good bus network would help and infrastructure built less around cars would make shorter distances more likely for other means like cycling/walking.
Well duh. We definitely need a much stronger focus on public health and primary care rather than leaving problems on waiting lists until they are harder (and more expensive) to solve.
Nah, if you leave people on waiting lists they give up, turn to private options or just die, so it's no longer your problem. That's the cost saving approach the NHS uses for mental health services.
Does nobody else find the framing of this article a little weird? I thought the argument for boosting the economy, was because it correlated well with people's well being. (Not that I personally but that, but I understand the line of thought). Now instead we're suggesting that human outcomes are important because it boosts an arbitrary measure? I feel like the cart is now dragging the horse along the ground.
Great aim but I don't see what this Labour government is going to do to make the situation better given the last government couldn't nor could the last Labour government for that matter.
We've gone from it being worse in work than out on benefits, to Universal Credit, to being stigmatised for being long term ill such that why would you bother.
Harder choices than what we're prepared for are needed. Good luck to them 👍.
The last Labour government
had an NHS waiting list that was in the region of hours, not weeks.
over doubled NHS funding
presided over the NHS having it's fastest increase in spending in its history
built a shitload of new NHS facilities and expanded capacity
had NHS staff that were paid way more fairly and didn't experience the extreme burnout we're seeing now
massively improved NHS dentistry
presided over the highest NHS satisfaction rating in its history
had what the WHO and others cited as being the best overall healthcare system on the planet
I'm not saying it was perfect. The IT system overhaul was a bit of a flop, for example. But Labour left the NHS in the best state it has ever been in.
I don't see how you could look at Labour and the Conservatives on health and say "both parties are the same"
I don't see how you could look at Labour and the Conservatives on health and say "both parties are the same"
But did I say that? Did I really? That seems like a misunderstanding of what I said.
The last Labour government did a lot of good in the NHS. Correct. 👍.
Specifically on long term sickness and getting people back to work, however, I don't recall them having solved the issues. In fact there was a lot of news about people being better off out of work rather than in work. Hence the Tory attempt at UC to give people "purpose". That was the whole thing with Ian Duncan Smith, he didn't see how paying people to stay at home long term sick was better for them than giving them work opportunities.
So whilst I agree Labour and Conservative records are vastly different, neither have solved the issues of long term sickness have they?
In fact there was a lot of news about people being better off out of work rather than in work.
That doesn't really line up with new Labour achieving (at the time) record levels of employment, nor does it line up with the data on the amount of people claiming sickness absence: source (ONS)
As you can see, it fell from a rate of 3% in 1997 to 2.2% in 2010. It never increased under Labour.
Now, in fairness, it did drop to 1.8% for the Tories, but once COVID hit, the backlogs created for the NHS (in significant part due to the deterioration of the NHS), we have been unable to bounce back quickly.
The data also shows 184 million days were lost in 1997, which labour got down to 132 million in 2010. It remained stagnant under the Tories, then ramped up after Covid.
Seems to me like Labour were massively successful in reducing sickness leave.
In fact there was a lot of news about people being better off out of work rather than in work.
So coming back to this, tbh (to me) that sounds like it could be the usual bashing of benefits "scroungers". The data doesn't back it up, people just thought Labour's generous benefits was making everyone be lazy, facts be damned.