AIBU to think Brexit has played a role in Britain's declining health

[Mangelwurzelfortea]

New research shows that people in the UK are spending fewer years in good health than 10 years ago. We're also worse off than comparable European economies.

Is it just a coincidence that Brexit was 10 years ago? I don't think so - if only for the fact that Brexit dominated politics for so long that nothing got done. And also it resulted in the loss of most of the decent Conservative politicians and we were stuck with absolute idiots running the country for the next 10 years.

www.theguardian.com/society/2026/apr/27/people-in-uk-spend-fewer-years-in-good-health-than-a-decade-ago-study-finds

Other countries haven’t got our NHS

Which we can't afford to fund properly since wiping 6-8% off GDP.

And yes it was struggling before but the decline over the last 10 years has been visible to everyone.

That’s one country but many don’t. The UK has a unique set factors which may explain this - I mentioned the NHS & the housing crisis. Plus very high junk food consumption. So to single out Brexit is almost impossible.

We're now paying the price for Thatcherism and for Cameron. This is the problem with politicians, they just have short-term goals and don't hang around once everything goes belly up.

I dont think many people understand what One Nation Conservatism was or how it was pretty left wing, desipte appearing on the surface as old school elitism.

the fall in GDP

There hasn't been a fall in GDP - rather some people argue that GDP may be higher still.

GDP is higher now than pre-pandemic;

The economy of the United Kingdom grew by 0.5 percent in February 2026, after growing by 0.1 percent in the previous month. The UK economy is currently 5.8 percent larger than it was in February 2020, just before the start of COVID-19 lockdowns.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1175538/monthly-gdp-uk/?srsltid=AfmBOoryD5FoEMFOIwnodED4B81mKCR7GjmQH2Wdyva2rCtvd9QrXPwZ

Government spending on health has increased;

In 2023, the UK spent 10.9% of GDP on health, just above the average for comparable countries. This is higher than pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels, when 10% of GDP was spent on health in 2019, but lower than levels spent during the Covid-19 pandemic.

https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-analysis/data-and-charts/key-facts-figures-nhs

🙈

I think the housing crisis is the cause of much ill health, especially in children. Local councils are among the worst landlords, with families living in damp, mouldy, cold flats. Over crowded, cold, stress levels off the scale, no outside space.
My late son tried to get somewhere to live near his job. all he could afford was a tiny room, no food storage of cooking facilities. No option to get healthy meals, and he was a very good cook. Eventually he came home and got up at 6 every morning to get a train to work - also stupidly expensive. There are many families living in temporary accommodation with nowhere to prepare healthy food. Imagine living in cold, damp conditions with only cheap junk food to eat. Add in the stress of the antisocial behaviour that is rife, no wonder people are sick and dying prematurely.
That is before we consider the plight of people with disabilities and the terrible state of the nhs.

Or alternatively it is because people are glued to their phones, eating rubbish food, not exercising and expecting Drs to wave a magic wand to fix them?!

Take responsibility for your health folks, simples.

I agree with this. There is an absolute lack of personal responsibility.

Yes it’s more the excuses and lack of responsibility, it’s the weather, Brexit, food etc

It can be hard perhaps GLP-1 will start to change things.

Totally agree with OP.
First, Brexit meant an exodus of European workers, meaning fewer tax payers in the UK, so less money all round.
Next, healthcare professionals left making our hospitals short starffed.
Third, it caused food prices to rise ( a lot of this is to do with the cabotage system of lorry drivers being able to pick up and drop off loads anywere within the EU, which ended for us of course. Also, customs issues)
Fourth, we have poorer quality food that goes off quicker because it sits in customs for days waiting for paper checks.
Lastly, our economy has declines because our businesses are exporting less. We now have difficulties exporting to our closest markets, whilst fuel costs make exporting further afield uncompetitive.

There doesn't appear to be proof that the overall number of NHS staff with EU nationality has actually fallen;

In June 2016 there were 58,702 NHS staff with a recorded EU nationality, and in June 2025 there were 79,007 – an apparent rise. But to present this as the full story would be misleading, because there are around 60,000 more staff for whom nationality is known now than in 2016. It is very likely that there has been an overall increase in the number of NHS staff with EU nationality since 2016, but we can’t be sure about the scale of the change, and it would be misleading to calculate an increase based solely on the two numbers above.

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7783/

That makes no sense dear x

Yes but we now have far fewer EU doctors and nurses.

https://www.surrey.ac.uk/news/brexit-has-caused-1485-additional-deaths-year-due-eu-nurses-leaving-uk

There have drug shortages as a result of Brexit.

However, I think the bigger issues started before Brexit - namely decades of underfunding in the NHS and public health initiatives, plus an aging population.

Mangelwurzelfortea
But the wars and the pandemic have affected everyone yet we're the only Western economy with declining health outcomes

The study in your op doesn't say we are the only Western economy;

Compared with 20 high-income countries, the UK performs poorly on healthy life expectancy. Between 2011 and 2021, healthy life expectancy increased or remained stable in 16 countries; the UK experienced a decline alongside only the Netherlands, Canada, Germany and the United States, with the second largest reduction among these nations.

we now have far fewer EU doctors and nurses

No we don't - the rate of increase may have slowed.

There have been drug shortages as a result of Brexit

How do our drug shortages compare to other European countries?
For example France;

https://www.polytechnique-insights.com/en/columns/health-and-biotech/drug-shortages-39-of-french-people-at-risk-in-2024/

I genuinely don't understand how you can say that - COVID hit every single country.But because of Brexit, for example, it's very hard to recruit clinical staff from the EU to deal with backlogs and long COVID.