Health policy priorities: What should the incoming UK government focus on?

Dr Zoë Bell, from the Department of Nutritional Sciences, said: “A UK nationally representative survey in 2023 showed unprecedented levels of food insecurity. 35.9% were food insecure. This is a predictor of mental health. Women, individuals with lower income, and those of non-white ethnicity were more likely to experience more severe food insecurity.

“In the UK, inequalities in access to healthy food are unjust and avoidable yet food banks and donation points are commonplace in our society. Food insecurity during pregnancy and the early years is of great concern given it is a driver of poor diet quality, maternal obesity, gestational diabetes and poor maternal mental health. Whilst the immediate impact on newborns (e.g. their birth weight) is less clear, we do know that when mothers live with obesity, gestational diabetes and depression this can have health consequences for their children in later life.

“We need policy recognising the food system as an important determinant of health for now and future generations. Priorities should include an uplift in the Healthy Start scheme in line with inflation and price increases, eligibility expansion and its promotion, introduction of pricing policies to ensure formula is affordable, removal of the two-child benefit cap and continued expansion in childcare support."

Dr Claire Feeley, Lecturer from the Department of Midwifery, said, “Our maternity services have never had so much scrutiny, regulation or policy – all of which are held in high esteem globally. Yet the national picture suggests a continuing downward trend in terms of safety, experiences, maternal/neonatal morbidity and mortality rates; as well as staff wellbeing/turnover. Furthermore, poorer outcomes continue to occur for those historically marginalised; Black, Asian and other minoritised women and birthing people and their babies. Such issues have long been known and it is incumbent for the new government to tackle the complex issues that maternity services face, but this must be addressed within the wider societal context in which maternity services intersect such as adequate housing, benefits, maternity leave/pay, access for those most vulnerable.

“As maternity services continue to recover from the pandemic, it must be a priority for the new government that all services are restored across the sector with adequate staffing in place to ensure women are protected from a growing endemic of birth trauma. Staff wellbeing is crucial to this endeavour alongside delivering care within a trauma-informed approach to reverse this trend urgently.”

Professor Miraz Rahman, Professor of Medicinal Chemistry from the School of Cancer & Pharmaceutical Sciences, said: “The new government must urgently prioritise tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) by implementing targeted initiatives to resolve the current crisis in antimicrobial drug discovery and address the loss of skilled researchers in this field. Almost all major pharmaceutical companies have abandoned infectious disease drug discovery due to commercial challenges, leaving the antibiotic pipeline empty. This situation is slowly leading us to a catastrophe that will result in significant loss of life and major disruption to economic activity. This was predicted by Lord Jim O'Neill's review in 2014, but we have failed to make significant progress in addressing this challenge over the last ten years.

“The UK government must work with the European Union and the USA to identify workable solutions that incentivise research and development in antibiotic discovery. This will encourage pharmaceutical companies to return to infectious disease research and ensure biotech companies receive proper support during challenging phases, preventing bankruptcy and the loss of valuable skills.

“Another priority is the training of new AMR researchers. Globally, we have lost a significant number of these researchers due to the closure of infectious disease units in pharmaceutical companies. It is crucial to prioritise the training and retraining of AMR researchers with targeted research grants and doctoral training programmes to maintain the necessary skills to tackle this major challenge in the future.”

Professor Claire Steves, Professor of Ageing and Health and Director of King’s College London new Centre for Ageing Resilience in a Changing Environment, said:

“Optimising resilience in older adults – enabling individuals to ‘bounce back’ after experiencing adverse episodes such as the development of chronic illness or disability - needs to be a priority for the incoming government. This challenge is made doubly important by the stressors in our system – a changing economy, weakened health care service after COVID-19 and impending climate change which is already disproportionately affecting older adults.

“Census 2021 data shows that three-quarters of this group in England and Wales live in urban regions. Local factors are really important in ensuring resilience of older people – from providing insulation in housing, safe accessible places to engage in physical activity, to delivering health care services designed with older people’s needs in mind.

“Every borough and region in the country, therefore needs to think about how it is building the resilience of our older populations.”