A GP working in one of Scotland’s most marginalised communities says covid-19 should prompt a fundamental rethink of how society supports the most vulnerable.

Dr Anne Mullin, a GP in Govan, wants there to be a “real campaign not to go back to the status quo, because the status quo really wasn’t working”.

She fears the consequences of millions losing their jobs could be as bad as the virus itself.

“The virus kills people but so do health inequalities. If you are living in poverty, from one minimum wage pay check or benefit payment to the next, struggling and being stressed is the reality of your life,” says the Glasgow doctor.

“For a lot of people who have been teetering, this will become the reality and it’s that volume of people all at one time that will overwhelm a system that is not prepared.”

Dr Mullin is part of the Deep End project, a group representing family doctors in Scotland’s most deprived communities.

The collaborative has spoken out against welfare cuts and child poverty, previously urging the Scottish Government to rethink its benefit plans.

One of Scotland’s leading public health analysts has laid the blame for a slowdown in life expectancy at the door of the UK Government’s benefit cuts since 2010.

Applications for universal credit have surged since the virus outbreak began, with more than a million people trying to claim payments since the outbreak started.

The DWP announced this week claimants would no longer have to call the agency when making a claim after some were left waiting for hours on hold.

“If anything good comes out of this, it’s a fundamental re-evaluation of society and how we understand marginalised communities,” Dr Mullin says.

“We’ve been told for years there was no magic money tree, that austerity was an economic reality and now suddenly they have found the magic money tree.

“We cannot go back to the way we were. The whole system has been failing for so long and this just brought that into sharp focus.

She warns many better-off people who previously would have had little to do with the welfare system could find themselves relying on a safety net frayed by years of cuts.

“Potentially many, many more people are going to find themselves in a very difficult financial situation and you need a robust state infrastructure and support to fall back on.”