Juliet Dobson , managing editor The BMJ jdobson{at}bmj.comFollow Juliet on Twitter @Juliet_hdThe UK government’s plans for the NHS and the economy, unveiled last week, don’t bode well for the health or the wealth of the nation. The plans illustrate the government’s failure to grasp the link between poverty and poor health outcomes and reveal a complete disregard for people’s health and wellbeing. The “mini-budget” provides no answers to the cost of living crisis, which is already having a detrimental effect on people’s health and is expected to get much worse this winter. A shortage of skilled staff was also an obstacle in scaling up laboratory testing during the covid pandemic and continues to be a key weakness in the UK’s ongoing pandemic preparedness (doi:10.1136/bmj-2022-072467).12 And where are the UK’s plans for dealing with covid this winter? You may download and print the article for any lawful, non-commercial purpose (including text and data mining) provided that all copyright notices and trade marks are retained.

Source: The Guardian September 29, 2022 00:25 UTC