PUBLIC HEALTH
heart conditions, suggesting there will be a shadow of unmet need once the immediate crisis subsides. The report points out that the COVID-19 pandemic has presented the UK with societal challenges not seen since the Second World War. The Health Foundation warns that, “without the right action, its legacy will be more of the creeping inequalities that have characterised the last decade and which, in the long term, will take their own toll on the nation’s health.”
It adds that “we have already seen community spirit increase in the immediate response to the crisis and, as our interdependence becomes clearer, there may be greater public support for collective action to protect the most vulnerable in the future. This pandemic could be a watershed moment in creating the social and political will to build a society that values everyone’s health now and in the long term.” The report states that achieving this will require action that goes beyond suppressing the virus and meeting the needs of the most vulnerable in the weeks and months ahead. The Health Foundations believes that, once the emergency response is over, the Government needs to start thinking longer term, implementing a national cross- departmental health inequalities strategy that would lay the foundations for a new social compact. According to the report, a ‘new social compact’ must include: l An enhanced role for the state in providing social protection: Living in poverty can have long-lasting negative implications for people’s health. It is therefore vital that the social security system is strengthened to protect people from severe deprivation, thereby safeguarding their health and wellbeing in times of acute need and in the long term. Steps such as abolishing the two- child limit and setting benefit rates at a level that provides an adequate standard of living will be important to reduce hardship and prevent a projected rise in child poverty.
l Significantly increased public spending on prevention, with targets set and preventative spending tracked: Action must to be taken to remedy the Government’s shift from investing in prevention to spending on treatment. This needs to play out at all levels of public expenditure but must address the underfunding of local government over the last decade. While local councils have been provided with additional funding to enable them to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, the crucial role they play in protecting health and wellbeing must be acknowledged and supported over the longer term.
OCTOBER 2020
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