By Robbie Boyd

Community rehabilitation Nurse Carol Di Folco has said the Government has. 

 “Been told for years.” 

When it comes to failings within the NHS. The former Accute neurosurgery nurse, has turned her nearly 40-year experience within the health sector to now working in people’s homes as a community rehabilitation nurse and says that the Government has “had their heads buried for years”. 

Professor Gerry McCartney of Glasgow University links income and health by stating that it is an important determinant of health

“It influences the health of the population, because it provides the access to goods and services people need to keep themselves healthy.” 

Dietician Kerri Major compares the price of food to the diet that people consume in fact, food prices have risen by 13.6% as of August 2023, however, The Office for National Statistics on the cost of living crisis has actually said that this is a drop from 14.1% the previous month. 

Kerri said: “There needs to be more help from the Government the cost of food is often what art comes to when dealing with areas of much higher deprivation,”

With 19% of Scotland living in poverty and 1 in 4 children growing up in impoverished environments. Gerry McCartney says that changes in income have an immediate impact on the health of individuals. 

He said: “Income rises improve health, and certainly we know that generally, employment is very good for health.”

Gerry reflects on the damning 67% statistic when it comes to mortality and how that either affects you positively or negatively whether you’re in employment or not. 

He said: “We know that there is a 67% increase in mortality if you’re unemployed and the same, there is a 67% reduction in the mortality rate if you are in employment.”

Carol has had first-hand experience with this, when she was on the wards. There would often be admissions from the nearby homeless unit in Glasgow.

She said: “They were always coming in wee drunk head injuries you were lucky if these guys were in their 40s, 50s, and they certainly wouldn’t have made it into their 60s and 70s.”

you can listen to our radio report here