How general practice is paying for the cost-of-living crisis

“I’ve got one patient—the benefits she gets only cover her rent and bills. She has nothing left over for food,” a GP in east London explains to The BMJ. “For the past few months she’s been using that money just to pay for her sustenance. She doesn’t go out of the house because she can’t afford to do anything and she sits in the cold most of the time.

“She’s in arrears now, and now she’s getting eviction notices from the council.”

General practitioners are spending more time than at any point in living memory on supporting people whose main problems are driven by poverty—ranging from malnutrition to mental health conditions.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimates that in 2021-22 six and a half million people in the UK were in “deep poverty,” meaning that after housing costs they had less than 40% of the median income. This was one and a half million more people than at the start of the century. Four million people (including a million children) experienced destitution, meaning they were unable to stay warm, dry, clean, and fed, according to the foundation’s 2024 report published in January. The UK is failing on poverty—and healthcare services are feeling the effects.

“We’re seeing health deteriorate as a result of financial constraints that individuals and families are facing,” says …