POVERTY AT END OF LIFE
POVERTY AT END OF LIFE

Jackie Baillie has spoken of her concern that a third of working age people in their last year of life in West Dunbartonshire are experiencing poverty.

Figures released by Marie Curie show that people in West Dunbartonshire who are terminally ill are struggling with their finances in their final weeks and months. The region has the third highest proportion of people in poverty at the end of their life, behind only Glasgow and Dundee.

The evidence from the cancer charity also outlines that a fifth of pensioners in the local authority are experiencing poverty at the end of their life.

The damning figures lay bare the deep health inequalities which are widening in areas of deprivation such as West Dunbartonshire. People here are struggling to put food on their tables and heat their homes during the cost of living crisis with fuel bills spiralling and every day costs increasing. There have even been reports of people presenting at local foodbanks rejecting items because they cannot afford to cook them.

The Dumbarton constituency MSP said: “This is absolutely devastating to learn that people who are in the final weeks and months of their lives are struggling to pay the bills.

“I cannot imagine how heartbreaking this must be for those patients and the people around them. To have a terminal diagnosis is awful but to then be faced with the difficulty of paying for basic services and even food is unthinkable.

“These damning statistics which highlight the scale of this issue in my own constituency shine a light on the urgent need for reform to tackle deprivation and poverty which has a direct correlation with the health of our people.

“I have already spoken in Parliament about the need for a laser like focus on overcoming the barriers caused by disadvantage and to close the gap in cancer care which will in turn close the gap in outcomes.

“The most deprived areas of our country have far worse outcomes for cancer care and far worse survival rates than the most affluent and this latest revelation is stark proof of that. The SNP Government must act now. If this isn’t a wake-up call. I don’t know what is.”

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