Marmot Review: The National Health Service

One priority framework related to health inequalities is Equally Well, Equally Well was launched in June 2008. The report produced in company with Cosla was followed by a complete action plan in December 2008. Equally Well has actions for all and delivering on these will require strong joint working between NHS, local government, the Third Sector and other with community planning companies. The Equally Well Review confirms that the three social policy frameworks, Equally Well, the Early Years Framework and Achieving Our Potential remain the best approach to deliver long-term developments in outcomes for people. The Ministerial Task Force therefore recommends that action on all of the frameworks´ recommendations should continue at Scottish Government

Every typical high school student is required to take math, science, and English courses to graduate to gain a sufficient amount of skills to go off to college and the big world that lies ahead; but college level classes held at a medical center taught by doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals is anything but ordinary.

National health policy is a complex and interdependent issue regarding a multitude of components including structural determinants of good health, lifestyle determinants, and socializing and empowering determinants. Structural determinants of good health can be considered key parts of our society regarding economic, political, and social areas that our culture has established (Estes, Chapman, Dodd, Hollister, Harrington, 2013). Our country has major inequalities regarding socioeconomic status and health care access, this in turn contributes to a disparity among our population and further promotes inequalities. Higher social classes have better access to health care as compared to people of lower socioeconomic status, thus further dividing

The need to distribute wealth amongst the population is another way to promote health equity as it pertains to ensuring that the balance of power is not too one-sided by the rich. Another example of improving the health state is to improve the gap of economic levels by making sure that the poor does not get poorer and the middle class does not become too strained. Lastly, health is dependent on the resources available. If communities are empowered and advocate for change in their health, there is a better chance of improving the health disparities within communities (Adelman, 2008).

Tobacco has and still is the most important public health issue faced in Australia and internationally. (Jochelson, 2006). Many countries such as North America, England, Australia, Canada and Ireland have introduced policies regarding smoking in public areas and restriction of smoking in indoor areas. (Thomson, Wilson & Edwards, 2009). The government, community leaders and policy makers work towards introducing policies that will stop consumers from smoking in public areas. (Pizacani, maher, Rohde, Drach & Stark, 2012). Government intervention should extend public smoking bans so that second hand smokers can be safe, a better environment and less death incidents relating to smoking.

Bakibinga and Rukuba-Ngaiza (2018) show that the main reasons for health inequalities are differences in income, employment, housing or education, which can make the circumstances of people’s daily lives more challenging. This can increase the likelihood of poor health in addition to people becoming poorer, which in turn means that they are more likely to live in more deprived neighbourhoods. In Scotland, people born in the 10% most deprived areas and people from poorer backgrounds generally do less well than those from more affluent areas (Scottish Government, 2022). Deprived areas have higher risks to health because of poor housing, high rates of crime, poorer air quality, a lack of green spaces and places for children to play and more risks to safety from traffic (Marmot, 2010). Individuals in lower socioeconomic groups are identified as a group who may face challenges in accessing healthcare services and adopting healthier lifestyles (The Health Foundation, 2018).

Rowlingson (2011) agrees with Wilkinson and Pickett that there is indeed a strong correlation between income and health and social problems. In her report she includes the ‘Marmot Review’ (Marmot, 2010) which shows evidence that people living in England in the poorest areas compared to those living in the richest will, on average, die 7 years earlier. This suggests a clear link between class and health. The report further notes other additional factors, such as infant mortality, and mental and physical well being go hand in hand with inequality.

The National health services (NHS) provides a comprehensive healthcare services across the entire nation. It is considered to be UK’s proudest institution, and is envied by many other countries because of its free of cost health delivery to its population. Nevertheless, it is often seen as a ‘political football’ as it affects all of us in some way and hence everyone carry an opinion about it (Cass, 2006). Factors such as government policies, funding, number of service users, taxation etc all make up small parts of this large complex organisation. Therefore, any imbalances within one sector can pose a substantial risk on the overall NHS (Wheeler & Grice, 2000). This essay will discuss whether the NHS aim of reducing the nations need

Health inequalities are preventable and unjust differences in health status experienced by certain population groups. People in lower socio-economic groups are more likely to experience health inequalities than people in higher socio-economic classes. Health inequalities are not only found between people of different

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental, spiritual and social wellbeing, and not just the absence of disease” (WHO, 1974). Health inequalities are the differences in health or healthcare opportunities in different societies this may be due to income,

classes are perhaps not as clear as they used to be. But it is just as

Inequalities in health still exist and are mainly blamed on the stratification system in the UK. The Black Report suggested there were 4 main reasons for this:

Lifestyle choices such as smoking, drinking alcohol, poor diet and lack of physical exercise have many diseases associated with them. In 2006-07, patients with these diseases cost the NHS a combined total of £18.4bn (Scarborough et al. 2011). If the NHS limited treatment to these groups of people, it would be able to invest this money into other areas of need. This could lead to improved facilities for people who become ill through no fault of their own.

There are many different reasons why health inequalities exist due to many factors one extremely important one is social class. Socio-economic inequalities have been researched in the UK for many years. In the early 20th century the government started an occupational census which gave the researchers the opportunity to examine health outcomes of social class. The five class scheme was introduced in 1911 and a variation has been used since. In 2001 the National Statistics Socio Economic Classification replaced the older version. Social class is a name used to identify people who are similar in their income

This essay will be discussing the extent to which social class and poverty affects health and illness. Firstly, what is social class? Each person’s perception of social class can be different; is social class defined by a person’s accent, the area they live in, or something as simple as their income? Project Britain describes social class as “The grouping of people by occupations and lifestyle”. (Cress, 2014). To find social class Sociologists group people according to common factors, they compare people and various criteria can be conveniently used to place people in social groups or classes. Next we ask the question what determines a person’s health, the NHS defines health as “Physical and mental, it is the absence of disease”. (NHS 2017).