Austerity and waiting times: Evidence on reproductive health care delays among young millennials in deprived areas

Abstract

Objectives

Waiting times in the English National Health System (NHS) have steadily increased since 2010 and reducing them has become a priority for the government and public. This study examines changes in hospital waiting times for millennials throughout adolescence and young adulthood, exploring their association with the 2010 austerity measures.

Study design

We use administrative data from Hospital Episode Statistics for participants in the Next Steps survey, a longitudinal study following individuals born between 1989 and 1990. We focus on trends in outpatient and emergency hospital services used for ages 14–17 to 27 between 2003 and 7 and 2017.

Methods

We employ an event-study interrupted time series with panel data, controlling for changes in trend due to the 2008 macroeconomic shock and allowing for autocorrelation and seasonality.

Results

Our results show that trends in waiting times remained unchanged during the 2008 Great Recession. Following the 2010 austerity cuts, while overall waiting times for emergency and outpatient hospital care only increased by a small amount, waiting times for reproductive health care substantially increased among young people living in the most deprived areas.

Conclusions

Findings suggest the presence of inequities in timely access to essential healthcare services, particularly in reproductive health care services (including obstetric and sexual health), which could potentially have substantial health consequences in the short and long run for young people living in more deprived areas. Policymakers implementing budget cuts in healthcare systems may need to consider allocating resources to mitigate and compensate for any detrimental health consequences.