The BGS welcomes the recognition of the wide-ranging effects of pensioner poverty on the health of older people in the Work and Pensions Committee’s report, Pensioner Poverty: challenges and mitigations, published today.
We are especially pleased to see both the oral evidence given by BGS representatives and our written evidence quoted in the report.
The report highlights that health inequalities have grown, with older people in deprived areas more likely to be living with frailty. Life expectancy for the poorest people has also declined in recent years, as have overall health outcomes.
Dr Ruth Law, BGS Honorary Secretary, gave evidence to the Committee about the knock-on implications of poverty on health. Her comments on the negative health impacts of something as seemingly simple as not being able to afford to eat with your friends are quoted in the report:
…some of my patients like to go down to the café to have their lunch, and if they do not have enough money, they are no longer doing that. They do not realise that that means they are not getting their daily walk, they are not getting their daily social contact, and they are also not sitting in a warm place."
We join the Committee in calling for a national strategy to tackle pensioner poverty, and for the Government to fully recognise the health implications of inaction.
