Health is not merely the absence of disease, but a state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing. Yet as a nation we are currently in a deep, persistent, and unequal health crisis, pointing to deeper and more complex demographic, economic, and structural challenges currently faced by society. GPs and public health professionals across the UK are grappling with increasingly complex and challenging times for the health of their patients and populations. Life expectancy in the UK is stalling for the first time in a century, more people are living with major illness, and widening social inequalities continue to exacerbate health risks for disadvantaged populations.1 Indeed, those in the most deprived areas of the UK can now expect to live just 50 years in good health, compared with 70 years for those in the least deprived areas.2

While these worrying trends have been driven in part by demographic shifts in our ageing population, and accelerated by the lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, we must also understand them as being a result of the wider economic, social, and political factors that are negatively impacting the health of millions of people living in the UK today.

As populations across the UK struggle with the impacts of economic decline and austerity such as under-resourced health and care services, rising unemployment, wage stagnation, and a lack of affordable housing, entire communities are left without a solid foundation on which to build their health and wellbeing.

The cost-of-living crisis …