Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
CHANGES to the welfare system could lead to more people suffering from illnesses such as diabetes and arthritis, a rise in teenage pregnancies and an increase in smoking, a health board has warned.
NHS Highland said the problems could emerge as a result of changes to people's benefit entitlement under a shake-up of the system brought in by the UK Government.
The Welfare Reform Act - which provides for the introduction of a Universal Credit to replace a number of existing means-tested benefits and tax credits - is aimed at simplifying the system.
Giving evidence at Holyrood's Finance Committee today, Dr Margaret Somerville, director of public health at NHS Highland, said a predicted drop in family incomes could give rise to various unquantifiable health risks.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/h...d-diabetes-health-bosses-warn-86908-23898544/
NHS Highland said the problems could emerge as a result of changes to people's benefit entitlement under a shake-up of the system brought in by the UK Government.
The Welfare Reform Act - which provides for the introduction of a Universal Credit to replace a number of existing means-tested benefits and tax credits - is aimed at simplifying the system.
Giving evidence at Holyrood's Finance Committee today, Dr Margaret Somerville, director of public health at NHS Highland, said a predicted drop in family incomes could give rise to various unquantifiable health risks.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/h...d-diabetes-health-bosses-warn-86908-23898544/