47 organisations demand Welsh government cabinet secretaries and ministers to work to reduce the impact of poverty and inequalities
Currently Wales has one of the highest poverty rates among the four UK nations, with 29% of children and 21% of working aged people living in poverty and this is driving inequalities across Wales. A national cross-government delivery plan to tackle poverty and inequality is desperately needed.
A range of health and care organisations have written to all Welsh Government cabinet secretaries and ministers, requesting information on how they are working to reduce the impact of poverty and inequalities in each of their remits.
Previously, many of the same organisations wrote to the Welsh government in April 2023, but since then little progress has been made. Families continuing to face inequalities and share the devasting impact poverty is having on their lives.
These organisations are once again calling for a joined-up delivery plan that sets out milestones, timelines and clear targets detailing what every Welsh government department is doing to tackle inequalities within their remit, and how cabinet secretaries and ministers are working together to reduce the impact of poverty and deprivation on the people of Wales.
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Wales Officer, Dr Nick Wilkinson says:
Across the child health workforce we see the harsh impact of child poverty and inequalities in our clinical interactions every day. It’s in the impact of poor-quality housing, limited access to nutritious food, low school attendance, rising mental health concerns and social isolation.
Yet, the impact of poverty and inequalities on children’s health is not inevitable. This is why RCPCH Wales brought together charities, representative bodies and professionals across the sector, so we can call on the government with one united voice to act.
For change to happen, we need to see a cross-governmental national delivery plan that will reverse the accelerating impact of poverty and inequalities on health outcomes, for the good of all our children in Wales, and our future society.
Welsh NHS Confederation Assistant Director, Nesta Lloyd-Jones says:
The wider determinants of health - fair work, housing, transport, access to green spaces, leisure and the arts - are all essential to our health and wellbeing. In such economically challenging times, budgets impacting the wider determinants of health become more squeezed.
Improving population health and wellbeing requires an integrated approach across all public services, all sectors and therefore all government departments. Unless we move away from siloes and short-termism and move towards a collaborative, long-term planning approach, the impact of poverty and inequalities will continue to be felt on our over-stretched services.
NHS leaders are committed to working with the government and partners across public, private and third sector to collectively tackle these challenges.
Royal College of General Practitioners Cymru Wales Vice Chair, Dr Claire Campbell says:
A patient often is impacted by inequality across a whole range of aspects of their life by the time they see their GP. Every government department has its part to play in delivering better health outcomes. We are all in this together.
The full list of organisations backing the calls are:
ABPI Cymru Wales
Asthma + Lung UK Cymru
BMA Cymru
British Psychological Society
British Society for Heart Failure
Cancer Research UK
Care and Repair Cymru
Carers Trust Wales
Carers Wales
Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
Children in Wales
Children’s Commissioner for Wales
Citizens Advice Cymru
Coeliac UK
Community Leisure UK
Crohn’s & Colitis UK
Cymru Versus Arthritis
Diabetes UK Cymru
Fair Treatment for the Women of Wales
Future Generations Commissioner for Wales
Home-Start Cymru
Learning Disability Wales
Marie Curie Cymru
Mencap Cymru
MS Society Cymru
NYAS National Youth Advisory Service Cymru
Parkinson's UK Cymru
Prostate Cancer UK
RNIB Cymru
Royal College of General Practitioners
Royal College of Nursing Wales
Royal College of Occupational Therapists
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
Royal College of Pathologists
Royal College of Physicians
Royal College of Podiatry
Royal College of Psychiatrists
Royal College of Speech and Language
Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
Royal College of Surgeons of England
Royal Pharmaceutical Society
Samaritans Cymru
Stroke Association Cymru
Tai Pawb
Tenovus Cancer Care
Wales Council for Voluntary Action
Welsh NHS Confederation
About our work
The Welsh NHS Confederation Health and Wellbeing Alliance subgroup on health inequalities is convened by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and Royal College of General Practitioners. The subgroup has published Mind the gap: what’s stopping change?, which was endorsed by 50 organisations in July 2022. Later the same year we published Everything affects health, which describes how organisations from across Wales are working collaboratively across health, social services, housing, the arts, benefits and welfare advice, transport, loneliness and isolation, climate change, air pollution and much more.
About us
We are the membership organisation that brings together, supports and speaks for the whole healthcare system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The members we represent employ 1.5 million staff, care for more than 1 million patients a day and control £150 billion of public expenditure. We promote collaboration and partnership working as the key to improving population health, delivering high-quality care and reducing health inequalities.
