UK energy bills crisis could set back health equality by decades, say experts

theguardian.com:

A failure to tackle soaring energy bills could set back health equality by decades and see the NHS faced with a “humanitarian crisis” of people unable to keep warm or eat properly, NHS leaders and public health experts have warned.

With one help service receiving calls from almost 100 people in a single day who had had their power disconnected, there are fears that many clinically vulnerable people could die or be forced to stay in hospital because it is unsafe to send them back to a freezing home.

In an unprecedented intervention, the NHS Confederation wrote to Nadhim Zahawi, the chancellor, on Friday to warn that a failure to act would pile pressure on stretched health services, as poverty, cold and missed meals pushed up rates of sickness.

The organisation, which represents the health service across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, said there was also a wider risk of severe and long-term damage to children’s life chances, further exacerbating already stark health inequalities.

Matthew Taylor, the NHS Confederation chief executive, said the forecast rise in energy bills to about £4,200 annually for the average household would come when health service was already “likely to experience the most difficult winter on record”.

He said: “The country is facing a humanitarian crisis. Many people could face the awful choice between skipping meals to heat their homes and having to live in cold, damp and very unpleasant conditions. This, in turn, could lead to outbreaks of illness and sickness around the country and widen health inequalities, worsen children’s life chances, and leave an indelible scar on local communities.”

Public health officials are deeply alarmed at the potential lifelong impact on children because of the stress