What you will get from this briefing

• Recommendations to mitigate the adverse impacts of austerity and associated welfare reform, and protect and promote health.
• Practical ways doctors can advocate for action in their healthcare setting and community.
• Practical ways for doctors to influence local and national policy.

Key findings

• In Scotland, the NHS budget has been cut by 1% in real terms between 2009/10 and 2015/16, but local government budget cuts were less severe than in England.
• In Wales, funding for the NHS fell by an average of 2.5% a year in real terms between 2010/11
  and 2012/13.
• Cuts to the public health grant in England will inevitably lead to service reduction and will, in the
  longer term, result in greater costs for both the NHS and the taxpayer.
• A 2014 UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund) report highlighted a strong and
  multifaceted relationship between the impact of the recent period of recession on national
  economies and a decline in children’s well-being since 2008.
• Economic and social policy strongly impacts on physical and mental health, with those policies that affect income and employment being particularly
  important.