Experts have warned that “medieval” levels of health inequality are severely straining Britain’s NHS, with the cost of treating illness linked to deprivation and poverty now estimated at £50 billion annually. This figure rivals the UK’s defence budget and reflects the hidden toll of rising child poverty and widespread hardship. Disturbing cases, including patients arriving at emergency departments with advanced, untreated cancers and an increase in self-harm for overnight shelter, highlight the extent of health neglect in the country’s most disadvantaged areas. Hospitals are also witnessing a rise in diseases reminiscent of the Victorian era, such as scabies, rickets, and scarlet fever. The findings are part of a detailed Guardian investigation into the growing impact of poverty on the UK’s overburdened health system. Senior NHS officials are calling the situation “chilling” and unsustainable, with growing fears that the system is being used as a last resort by those who have nowhere else to turn.