We are in the midst of challenging times. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and with mounting financial pressures on families, our own health – and the systems which are here to protect it – is under inevitable strain. There’s huge demand for GP appointments, ongoing treatment and emergency care. We know from our work that poor health and wellbeing can disproportionately affect some people more than others.  

What are health inequalities? 

A number of factors can shape a person’s health, their experiences of healthcare and the effect this has on their quality of life. These factors include: 

• Quality of housing and access to clean air 

• Access to healthcare services in a local area 

• Certain behaviour which affects health including smoking, nutrition or sleep 

• Quality of healthcare when you need it. 

Differences in people’s circumstances lead to ‘health inequalities’, which are fundamentally unfair but avoidable differences which can lead to some groups being more likely to experience poor physical and/or mental health. Certain protected characteristics can also play a part such as age or ethnicity. 

Additionally, if a child or young person has poor health in their formative years, this can potentially increase the chances of having health complications in later life, such as respiratory conditions, obesity related disease and even a shorter life expectancy. That shouldn’t be happening.

Sometimes these inequalities can intersect and overlap. For example, there are a disproportionate number of Black children in care. So, proportionately more Black children may have a health condition as a result of trauma or neglect they may have experienced in their young lives.  

In what can only be viewed as a vicious cycle: the more disadvantages a person experiences due to their life circumstances, the more this can take its toll on their health. This then increases their chances of having poor health in the future, as their body can’t perform as well as it should.  

How poverty impacts health 

Barnardo’s recent report ‘A Crisis on our Doorstep’ looked at how the cost-of-living crisis is harming children and young people’s physical and mental health. In a YouGov poll of over 1,000 British parents of children aged 18 or under, one in five said their child’s physical health had worsened due to spiralling costs. It found that 23% of parents have recently struggled to provide sufficient food for their children and 50% of parents have cut back on leisure or social activities to save money. This affects children’s physical health due to factors including poor sleep, lack of access to fresh air and poor nutrition. 

The poll also found that one in three parents said their child’s mental health had worsened in the recent winter months, and that nearly half were concerned about keeping their homes warm.  

Professor Michael Marmot, a leading researcher into health inequality, recently discussed the impact of the energy crisis on health. He said that the high cost of heating a home unleashes a chain of events, as children who live in cold and damp homes will not only suffer in the short-term, but they are more likely to go on to have illnesses in later life such as asthma, respiratory tract infections and high blood pressure.  

Barnardo’s is currently collaborating with Professor Marmot and University College London’s Institute of Health Equity as well as regional NHS Integrated Care Systems throughout England to look at the barriers people face to being mentally and physically healthy and to identify ways to overcome them. 

This could be offering parents advice on securing a steady job, helping to plan nutritious meals for their children or explaining the benefits of home insulation to avoid illnesses such as chest infections and subsequent time off school. It’s all about assessing local need and offering services to address the inequalities people in that region face.  

At Barnardo’s we have over 150 years’ experience of supporting families to address these issues – and today we are working with children and parents across the UK to help identify and prevent risks to health and wellbeing – as well as supporting young people who have experienced serious harm to recover. 

What the Government needs to do to help 

We need the Government to do more to support the health and wellbeing of children and young people. This includes providing free school meals for all primary school aged children, rolling out Mental Health Support Teams across all schools and colleges and setting up more family hubs across England to provide universal support for children, parents and carers from pregnancy through to adulthood.   

Children’s social care also needs to be adequately funded to help reduce the number of children taken into care. We have seen this work effectively through a service Barnardo’s runs in partnership with Newport City Council. Baby and Me supports parents-to-be who have previously had a child go into care. Since the scheme’s launch in 2019, there has been a 48% reduction in social services being involved in a baby’s care from birth. This is a great success, and we want to see more positive change. 

Health for all should mean just that. A child’s circumstances at birth should never put them on a trajectory towards poor health as they progress into adulthood. This could mean approaching things a little differently. Modern medicine pioneer Hippocrates famously said it’s about “what sort of person has a disease, rather than what sort of disease a person has.” That message seems to have been forgotten. It’s time to remember it and ensure healthcare is universal and available for everyone, regardless of their circumstances. 

The Barnardo’s report can be found here: Crisis On Our Doorstep  

Media contacts: 

To contact the National or Regional media team for interview requests or questions regarding this story, see our media centre.  

For our latest news and press releases, see our news pages, or follow us on Twitter @barnardosnews. 

References: 

All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc.  Total sample size was 1,010 GB parents of children aged 18 or under. Fieldwork was undertaken between 3rd - 7th February 2023.  The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB parents of children aged 18 or under.