DOES austerity kill? A landmark study of austerity policies found that 120,000 more people died in England between 2010 and 2017, following funding cuts to the National Health Service, than would have been expected if trends in death rates before the cuts had been maintained.
鈥淚f this effect continues, the team predicts a further 75,000 excess deaths could occur by 2020鈥�
If this effect continues, the researchers predict that a further 75,000 excess deaths could occur by 2020 (BMJ Open, ).
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After the financial crisis of 2008, annual funding increases for the NHS fell from 4 per cent a year to below inflation, even as a growing and ageing population increased demand for healthcare.
of King鈥檚 College London and colleagues found that after controlling for other economic changes, death rates rose after the cuts, especially among the over 65s.
The two events were statistically associated in time, which doesn鈥檛 formally prove cause and effect, the team notes. But excess deaths correlated most closely with a lack of nurses in care homes and cuts to community nursing.
This is alarming given that a bad flu season is expected to strike the UK soon, and people over 65 are the most likely to die from flu. Cuts to nurses visiting people outside hospitals mean more people remain hospitalised longer, causing a shortage of hospital beds, which could make this flu season especially tough.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淎usterity deaths鈥�
