In 2023, Healthwatch polling highlighted the impact of the cost of living crisis on people’s access to health and care. Healthwatch’s new poll conducted with 2008 adults living in England in January 2024, shows modest improvements in some areas. However, the cost of living remains a barrier to health, particularly for those under the most financial pressure and those requiring dental care.
People on low incomes are most affected by the cost of living
Healthwatch’s data shows that some people are still finding it hard to live healthy lives.
Almost one in five (19 per cent) of people said they are eating less healthy food, 12 per cent have skipped meals, and 12 per cent have stopped doing things that help them to stay fit and healthy, including going to the gym.
Those under more financial pressure continue to be disproportionately affected.
Almost all, (95 per cent) of respondents who describe their financial situation as ‘not at all comfortable’ had made at least one lifestyle change to cut back on spending.
For those under the most financial pressure, half (50 per cent) reported eating less healthy food. Sixty-seven per cent of this group said they’d avoided turning the heating on when they usually would.
Impact of the cost of living
The poll also evaluated how changes people made due to the rising costs of living have negatively affected their health and wellbeing, and ability to work. Healthwatch found:
- Nearly two-fifths (38 per cent) of people said the changes they’ve had to make have had a negative impact on their mental health, rising to 68 per cent for those under the most financial pressure.
- Over one in seven, 15 per cent, said their ability to work has been impacted by the changes they’ve had to make, rising to 38 per cent for those under the most financial pressure.
- Over one in eight (13 per cent) said their ability to manage a long-term health condition had been negatively affected, rising to 35 per cent for those under the most financial pressure.
People are increasingly avoiding going to the dentist
More than one in five (21 per cent) people avoided going to the dentist because of the cost, found the poll. This is up from 12 per cent in October 2022, and 15 per cent in both January and March 2023.
Forty per cent of people who described their financial situation as ‘not at all comfortable’ said they have avoided going to the dentist because of cost, compared to just seven per cent of those who said their financial situation was ‘very comfortable’.
Healthwatch’s recommendations
This is Healthwatch’s fifth national poll on the impact of the cost of living crisis in the last two years. Over the course of the crisis, people have told the organisation they had to make decisions to eat less healthily and stay in cold homes due to high costs.
The links between social deprivation and health outcomes are well-documented, including research on Britain's cold homes crisis.
The recently published NHS dental recovery plan is a first step to tackling longstanding issues, including access to dentistry, says Healthwatch. However, the organisation says it wants to see better solutions for people who are most impacted by the cost-of-living crisis.
For dental care, Healthwatch is calling for:
- Long-term, fundamental reform of the NHS dental contract to change how NHS dentistry is funded and arranged. The aim should be to allow the public to register with a local NHS dentist in the same way they can with a GP surgery. This step would provide better access to appointments for preventative oral health and new urgent problems.
- Extra dental appointments. The organisation says appointments should be made available for those who have not received NHS dental care in years, including children and those experiencing health inequalities.
- NHS dental charges to be frozen in future and more done to raise awareness of support with costs. Healthwatch believes this will support those who avoid seeking help because of the cost of living.
- More joined-up schemes between dental practices, GP surgeries, schools, and other services. By linking services, Healthwatch says this will help deliver prevention and link oral health to other issues, such as weight management and smoking cessation.