“Economische moord”: maar liefst 120.000 doden door Engels bezuinigingsbeleid sinds 2010

100 deaths a day. That’s the figure the BBC won’t talk about right now. But it should. Because a new report claims that could be the amount of excess fatalies England will see over the coming years. Experts have linked these expected deaths to the government’s health and social care cuts. And most of them are due to be elderly people. But the BBC didn’t report the story to the public, claiming the research wasn’t up to scratch. The study is titled “Effects of health and social care spending constraints on mortality in England”. Researchers from various universities, including Oxford, Cambridge and University College London, compiled it. They published it in the British Medical Journal. According to the research, there have already been almost 120,000 excess deaths since 2010. This is the number of fatalies “associated” with cuts. Experts also predict up to 100 extra deaths a day between now and 2020. And they say that deaths among people aged 60+ and in care homes “accounted for the majority” so far. Cambridge University’s Professor Lawrence King, who was involved in the study, said: “Austerity does not promote growth or reduce deficits – it is bad economics. It is also a public health disaster. It is not an exaggeration to call it economic murder.” Researchers pinpointed where they believe the government’s “bad economics” has hit the hardest. They say cuts have hit social care worse than health. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) reported real funding for social care in England dropped by around 1% between 2009-10 and 2015-16. For adult social care specifically, the drop was 6.4% in the same period. And every £10 less of spending per person on social care, the study linked to five extra care home deaths per 100,000 of the population. The report also identified a lack of nursing staff as an issue. Because it found that between 2010-2014 the rise in nurse numbers was 20 times lower than in the previous decade. This is despite England, like many advanced economies, seeing a “growing and ageing population”.

Tracy Keeling in 100 deaths a day in England. That’s the figure the BBC won’t talk about right now (Thecanary)