Tag: north/south divide

Perspective

Earlier this week I wrote another blog about the health inequalities we face in the North, compared to the South. Then I spent some time with a good friend of mine, who has spent much of his life in other countries. In what I’m about to write, I’m not negating the injustice that exists between North and South in the UK, or belittling the struggles that many of us face. But it did make me reflect again about wider issues of justice, not just locally but globally. Perspective is everything.

 

There has been much in the press over recent months about the rise of food banks – I do agree that this is shocking. But how amazing it is to live in a country where food banks are possible! Currently, 1 child dies every 10 seconds in the world today from HUNGER! Can you pause to imagine that?

 

It is true that some of our most economically deprived communities still have outside toilets. But those toilets are connected to a mains sewerage system that keeps disease far from us. 500,000 people (most of them children) – die every year from DIARRHOEA! That is like the entire population of the City of Leeds being wiped out every year from something entirely preventable. Clean water and sanitation – think about it.

 

The so-called childhood diseases of measles, rubella, pertussis (whooping cough), tetanus, and diphtheria are responsible for several hundred thousand deaths per year. Fortunately, all of these diseases are preventable through inexpensive vaccines.

 

Can you imagine for one minute if children across the UK were dying of hunger, diarrhoea and preventable illnesses? There would be uproar and rioting. But the poor suffer what they must.

 

Why am I writing this? Because we must constantly challenge our perspectives. It doesn’t mean that we should not tackle injustice at a local level. But, I think it does mean that if we challenge injustice at a local level, let’s not just be satisfied to stop there. We must tackle injustice at every level, wherever we see it and keep pushing ourselves to look further and deeper, beyond our own borders.

 

 

 

 

 

Share This:

Share

Don’t Mind The Gap – Address It!

So, here it is in black and white: the health gap between the north and south is getting wider, and in fact it is now the worst it has been in over 50 years!

 

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/aug/08/alarming-rise-in-early-deaths-of-young-adults-in-the-north-of-england-study?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-4770286/Death-records-growing-north-south-divide-study-finds.html?ito=email_share_article-top

 

I’ve blogged about this on here before, but the figures from this latest study are utterly stark:

 

In 2015, 29.3% more 25-34-year-olds died in the north than the south.

For those aged 35-44 it was almost 50% higher than the south in 2015!

 

Overall, there were 1.2MILLION more early deaths for those under 75 in the North compared to the South over the last 50 years. That is 24000 people dying younger than needed every single year extra in the North.

 

Leading complex change in the NHS and social care system involves systems thinking and economic modelling, which is more like gardening than a traditional mechanistic approach. However, you can prune all you like and plant all kinds of new seeds, but if your soil is depleted of the resources that plants need to grow and flourish and if you’re living in an area of drought, then no matter how hard you try, your garden remains barren. This is our experience in the North and it has to change now! We can’t simply take the same approach as the south. The soil is different here, the land is barren and the environment is harsher.

 

What the North needs now is a clear admission, by central government, of the inequalities that exist and a fair redistribution of resources to tackle the health deficit we experience here. As gardeners, we are working our fingers to the bone. We are engaging in population health, redesigning our systems, ensuring that we are dealing with our waste appropriately and joining up our depleted partnerships to provide the best care we possibly can. But we need investment in our soil! We need water! We need to know that northern gardens matter as much as southern ones do. The wider determinants of health – poverty, housing, education, aspiration, adverse childhood experiences and isolation are themselves in need of investment. But we also need investment, not further austerity, in the health and social care systems that are trying to deal with the consequences of these issues. Yes, we need a people movement in the North (see previous blogs), but we need a fair allocation of resource also!

 

The evidence is clear. The challenge to the centre is this: what will be done differently to redress this imbalance? What will be done to allow the North to flourish in health and wellbeing?

Share This:

Share