Life expectancy gap continues to rise under Labour

 For all the governments talk of championing the deprived the latest report on health inequalities (Status Report on Health Inequalities) states that the reality is that the most deprived are relatively now worse off than before.  It is unacceptable that the relative gap in life expectancy between the rich and poor is not closing and in some places continues to widen.

In part, this is down to the governments failure to make public health a priority, especially in the most deprived areas where spending on preventative health is the lowest. 

The work our local Public Health Team do, under the stewardship of Jan Hutchinson, should be commended but we need to do more and and as a minimum we need to ring-fence public health budgets to ensure short-term financial pressures do not compromise improved outcomes in the long-term.