Why ‘Dickensian diseases’ are on the rise in the UK

The recent surge in diseases more commonly associated with the Victorian era has been blamed in part on poverty and cuts to public health budgets.

Analysis of NHS figures revealed that hospital visits for scarlet fever, malnutrition, whooping cough and gout have surged by 3,000 per year since 2010, a 52% increase.

“The figures surrounding scarlet fever are the most shocking of all,” says Bustle. The disease, which was a leading cause of infant deaths in the early 20th century, and for which there is still no vaccination, has increased by 208% over the past decade. Hospital admissions for whooping cough, which was nearly eradicated in the 1950s, are also up 59%.

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Bustle says “the cause of this sharp increase in Victorian-era diseases is not known for certain”. The Guardian reports that it could be a result of “antibiotic and antimicrobial resistance” or a reduction in vaccination uptake.

Others, however, have blamed cuts to local authority budgets. The Independent says “since 2010 funding for public health programmes that monitor infectious disease and target obesity have been slashed, while socioeconomic inequality – a major driver of poor health – has risen”.

Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathon Ashworth claimed: “Dickensian diseases are on the rise in Tory Britain today. The damning truth is austerity is making our society sicker.”

He told LBC that these diseases, including cases of malnutrition, had made a comeback “against a backdrop of austerity” and were linked to an explosion in food banks and cutbacks to the number of health visitors and school nurses.

Homelessness and the number of food banks in Britain has increased since 2010 when the Coalition government began imposing its austerity programme.

In a statement to CNN, Helen Donovan, professional lead for public health at the Royal College of Nursing, admitted that, while there are many reasons for the increase, “the effect of sustained cuts to local authority public health budgets” cannot be ignored, as they “have caused services that screen, prevent, and protect against illness, and promote good hygiene to be scaled back”.

A major report by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) published last October warned infant deaths were on the rise, despite the fact that “infant mortality is already nearly a third higher in England than the average of the EU15+ countries – EU member states prior to 2004 plus Australia, Canada and Norway”, says The Independent.

The RCPCH concluded that poverty “lies at the root” of many ill health indicators, with infant mortality increases more pronounced in more deprived areas.

This corresponds to Labour research, verified by the House of Commons library, that revealed life expectancy varies dramatically across the UK.

“We are facing a national emergency as widening health inequalities blight the land,” Ashworth said, announcing a Labour goal for life expectancy and healthy life expectancy to match the best of Britain’s international peers by 2030.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care told The Guardian: “We’re committed to giving everyone five extra years of healthy, independent life by 2035 and reducing the gap between the rich and poor. We’ve already made progress, with cancer survival at a record high and smoking rates at an all-time low.

“We’re committed to ensuring everyone gets the same great healthcare no matter where they live, which is why our long term plan for the NHS puts tackling health inequalities at its heart.”