MeAmidst all the noise made by the NHS collapse, one refrain is heard over and over again. The basic point is very obvious, almost mundane. As the chaos deepens, it’s not just a reminder of how medical services have been. lack of funds Although neglected, the serious problems in the UK regarding disease prevention, lifestyle and nutrition issues are grouped under the term public health.
Doctors I spoke to recently described harrowing experiences watching the same patients walk in and out of wards over the years. We are familiar with the array of conditions that cause many hospitalizations and the fact that they are often rooted in obesity, sedentary lifestyles, poor diet, and all. There are many of the same factors behind. Again, the need for a more preventive approach to health is very clear, but what that really means is still largely a mystery.
Clearly, this is a country that needs to improve looking after itself. plain facts The intersection of poverty and ill health continues to be neglected, and public health is also hampered and undermined by a disastrous failure to link one area of policy with another. If you want particularly vivid evidence of exactly British Syndrome, try this. leisure center and pool in the midst of a crisis.
Browse through the news archive and you’ll find it all here. HuddersfieldMilton Keynes, East Sussex rye, Coventry and HullGateshead awaits parliamentary decisions on two large leisure centers that could mean the end of pools, gyms and squash courts.Famous local doctor recently nailed what is at stake: “Take the example of a poor neighborhood with large health disparities. Remove the last remaining public exercise facilities from the poorest parts of the poor neighborhood above. See what happens to health. This is an experiment the people of Gateshead don’t deserve to participate in.”
In many cases, the cost of heating public pools has tripled.Last week the new government Utility bill discount system, which lasts for a year and provides two levels of financial support to businesses, charities and the public sector. The most generous tier is reserved for “energy and trade intensive industries”. The list includes museums, libraries, and even “botanical gardens, zoos and conservation activities,” but excludes swimming pools and leisure centers. As the country’s governing body, Swim England, sees it, “hammer blowThis “contradicts the government’s previous statements on the importance of physical activity and reducing pressure on the NHS”.
There is a longer story here. Since the 1960s, many pools and sports centers have been built. Swim England puts the life expectancy of public swimming pools at his 38 years. This means that many local facilities are now in dilapidated condition. Like so many things, this mess bears the imprint of George Osborne. They have not been refurbished or replaced as local public spending has been slashed in the post-2010 austerity frenzy.UK swimming pools could collapse by 2030 unless something changes 40% or moreTo make matters worse, the pandemic has left a huge hole in the City Council’s leisure budget that has yet to be repaired.
The result is a burgeoning tragedy. Swimming is a basic human skill that everyone should have and a perfect way to stay fit and share with others. It offers. But her quarter of children leaving primary school in the UK in 2022 can’t swim As former Olympic swimmer Greg White recently put it, “Kids who can’t swim will become adults who can’t swim, and parents who can’t swim will have children who can’t swim.”
Beyond that, there are many others, many of which are directly related to the provision of health. For example, my mother has a heart pacemaker and meets once a week at the local leisure center to use the gym. Among the closed libraries and community centers, what we often think of as sports facilities are also a central part of the community’s remaining defenses against isolation and loneliness. ?
There is a small but important part of this story that is often ignored. It is a rural location with an outdoor pool that is often the only space for exercise and recreation.There are clusters of examples on and around Dartmoor – for example the small town of Devon Buckfastly, the child poverty rate is 30%, and the local pool has been around for 125 years. Three local elementary schools use this pool for swimming lessons. It is fully open from May to September, when you can enjoy cold water swimming on Sundays. In 2019, our annual electricity bill came to around £8,000. It’s currently at £26,000 and could climb to £34,000. The running cost hole is now £20,000.
Last week, I spoke with Pam Barrett, one of the key people keeping the pool business going. “It’s our last permanent leisure facility,” she said. “We have a football club and a rugby club for healthy young people, but what about the rest of us? Pools for women, children, the disabled and the elderly. This is it.” Chagford, Moretonhampstead Exactly the same is true for other outdoor pools not far away, such as , Ashburton and Bovey Tracey. “We are really worried,” Barrett told me. “I don’t know how you’re going to find £20,000 a year. How are you going to keep the funding going?”
There are some obvious answers to the pool’s predicament, and they also apply to much larger local assets. tax arrangements A limited increase in funding from central government to local governments to cover pools and sports centers, and urgent placement of exercise venues to help maximize energy costs. Without them, this story would only get worse: one more blow to the flimsy fantasy of leveling up, further proving the current state of the nation – sickness and chaos in all wards and surgeries, And it is at the height of its most terrifying stupidity.
