Regional inequalities in resilience should set alarm bells ringing - The Yorkshire Post says

The horrors of the Covid-19 pandemic will be etched into the nation’s psyche for some time to come and what it showed was the need for resilience.

But new research shows that coastal, rural and areas in the North of England are less able to withstand and recover from adverse events. And once again there are regional disparities that are leaving communities vulnerable.

Analysis by academics from Health Equity North (HEN), the University of Manchester and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester (ARC-GM), Yorkshire and the North East had the lowest resilience scores, while London and the South East had the highest.

Furthermore, coastal and rural areas have significantly lower resilience compared to urban and inland areas of the country and significant parts of the county are made up of coastal and rural communities.

This is not a new issue and it won’t be a surprise to people who live in the region.

However, it is new research and underlines the importance of taking a holistic approach to tackling regional inequalities.

It isn’t just about pandemics but also other crises such as economic and social shocks. Lower resilience has a detrimental impact on health outcomes and the key to getting the economy moving is to improve the health and wellbeing of the population.

Unfortunately, regional inequality has become a political football to be leveraged by Westminster politicians when they deem it politically beneficial.