Helping people with the cost of living

Healthwatch Birmingham and Healthwatch Solihull have raised awareness of the impact of the cost of living on local people’s health and wellbeing, and how to get help with healthcare costs.

Our initial investigation How has the cost-of-living crisis affected the health and wellbeing of people in Birmingham and Solihull? examined the experiences of over 300 residents of Birmingham and Solihull between December 2022 and June 2023. We found that:

• A far higher proportion of people, than in a national poll, were avoiding the associated costs of NHS treatment and appointments.
• For those people on disability benefits, a higher proportion than found nationally were avoiding taking up prescriptions, avoiding booking appointments due to the associated costs, avoiding the cost of dental treatment or paying for over-the-counter medications.
• A third of respondents were using Warm Spaces or anticipating doing so.

Our report has since fed into the development of strategies to tackle the cost-of-living developed by Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board (NHS BSOL), Birmingham City Council (BCC) and Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council (SMBC), with Healthwatch presenting our findings to local stakeholders at the Birmingham Cost-of-Living conference in November 2023. The report was also covered in Birmingham Live, with links to the NHS website so people can check their eligibility for financial assistance with healthcare costs.

NHS BSOL has worked to increased awareness of free prescriptions and help with transport costs for eligible individuals, including sharing social media assets designed by Healthwatch. The two local authorities provided Warm Spaces throughout the winter of 2023/24, which Healthwatch targeted with materials promoting our Information & Signposting service for people seeking free and confidential personalised information about health and social care.

Healthwatch Birmingham and Healthwatch Solihull also created specific cost-of-living pages on our websites, featuring contact details for local organisations offering support with things such as mental health, housing and managing money. Promoted through a social media campaign in partnership with local NHS services and BCC, the pages were visited by 1,255 people between November 2023 and February 2024.