Dr Harry Hill has contributed to a major new report that connects North’s poor health with poor productivity. The report was commissioned by The Northern Health Science Alliance and had identified the key findings:
Key report findings
- Reducing the number of working aged people with limiting long term health conditions by 10% would decrease rates of economic inactivity by 3 percentage points in the Northern Powerhouse
- Increasing the NHS budget by 10% in the Northern Powerhouse will decrease economic inactivity rates by 3 percentage points
- If they experience a spell of ill health, working people in the Northern Powerhouse are 39% more likely to lose their job compared to their counterparts in the Rest of England. If they subsequently get back into work, then their wages are 66% lower than a similar individual in the rest of England.
- Decreasing rates of ill health by 1.2% and decreasing mortality rates by 0.7% would reduce the gap in gross value added (GVA) per-head between the Northern Powerhouse and the Rest of England by 10%.
- Increasing of the proportion of people in good health in the Northern Powerhouse by 3.5% would reduce the employment gap between the Northern Powerhouse and the rest of England by 10%
- Given the relationship between health, health care and productivity in the Northern Powerhouse, then in order to improve UK productivity, we need to improve health in the North.
Recommendations
Central Government
- To improve health in the North by increasing investment in place-based public health in Northern Powerhouse local authorities
- To improve labour market participation and job retention amongst people with a health condition in the Northern Powerhouse
- To increase NHS funding in the Northern Powerhouse – to be spent on prevention services and health science research
- To reduce economic inequality between the North and the rest of England by implementing an inclusive, green industrial strategy
Northern Powerhouse Local and Regional Stakeholders
- Health and Wellbeing boards and the emerging NHS integrated care systems should commission more health promotion, condition management and prevention services
- Local enterprise partnerships, local authorities and devolved Northern regions should develop locally tailored ‘health-first’ programmes in partnership with the local NHS and third sector providers
- Local enterprise partnerships, local authorities and devolved Northern regions should scale-up their place-based public health programmes across the life course: ‘starting well’, ‘living well’ and ‘ageing well’.
- Local businesses should support job retention and health promotion interventions across the Northern Powerhouse workforce and Northern city regions and Northern NHS integrated care systems should lead by example.
Read the full report here