Women living in poverty are more likely to suffer from ill health and as a result live less than the better off. It is important to assess if General Practitioners in the UK are doing enough to contribute in tackling this imminent problem facing their patients. GPs should play a greater role in offering help and advice to women in need, especially those from disadvantaged communities, in order to improve their wellbeing. GPs can do so by taking into consideration patients’ living standards when carrying out routine check ups, whether by directly asking them to complete questionnaires or by cooperating with local institutions on the issue.
Although these measures would not solve the problem as a whole, they could prove to be beneficial in the longer term. GPs need to be more vocal with patients when reviewing their cases, not only for example in terms of underlining the severity of harm that alcohol, bad diet and tobacco consumption can cause to their health but also in offering support and advice in how women can change their lifestyles. If individuals are constantly made aware of the consequences of their actions and together provided with resources to tackle their problems, whether that is by encouraging these women to be more active or referring them to a specialist, this in turn could prove helpful in the fight against low life expectancy and one step closer to tackling key public health problems.