PEOPLE in poverty find it harder to get NHS care on time and are more likely to depend on expensive emergency treatments, according to a new report published today .

Analysis by health charity the King’s Fund found people living in poverty find it “harder to live healthy lives, harder to access NHS services, live with greater illness and die earlier than the rest of the population.”

According to the report, 30 per cent of those living in the most deprived areas have been forced to visit A&E, call 999 or go to a walk-in centre as they cannot get a GP appointment, compared with 10 per cent living in the least-deprived areas. 

It found that length of stay in hospital critical-care beds is also longer in deprived groups. The average length of stay for those in poverty rose by 27 per cent between 2017/18 and 2022/23, compared with 13 per cent among those in wealthier areas.

Fund chief Sarah Woolnough said: “One of the founding principles of the NHS is that it is free at the point of need, yet our analysis shows the cruel irony that many people living in poverty find it harder than others to access the timely care that could help them better manage their health conditions and prevent future illness.”

Report senior analyst and lead author Saoirse Mallorie said: “Bolder action from government, economic and civic society is needed to lift millions of people out of poverty and break this vicious cycle of poverty and its impact on poor health.”

Dr Nichola Ashby, deputy chief nurse at the Royal College of Nursing, warned that growing inequalities are also “putting additional demand on nursing staff working in an already overstretched health sector.”

She says that nurses see the everyday effect that poverty has on people’s health but “are often powerless to stop the root causes.”

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said that doctors “witness daily the devastating health effects that poverty and deprivation are having on patients” and that  the “unfortunate reality” is that there are not enough family doctors to meet current demand.

The government said it is putting record funding into the NHS and claimed there are 1.7 million fewer people living in absolute poverty compared with 2010, including 400,000 children.