Child poverty – The Victorian era revisited?
We may be one of the richest nations in the world but child poverty is still prevalent across the UK today. But don’t take my word for it. See below a summary of a damming report from experts in children’s health.
This briefing describes how rising levels of child poverty are impacting professionals working on the front line of children’s health, based on a survey of 371 paediatricians.
- 99 per cent of paediatricians responding to the survey reported that poverty is contributing to ill-health among the children they treat. Many respondents raised concerns about how poverty is impacting children’s nutrition as families lack the money to provide a healthy diet, while some described situations where poverty is causing children to develop life threatening conditions.
- 96 per cent of respondents said that poor housing conditions are affecting the health of the children they treat. They told us how damp housing is causing serious respiratory health conditions in children and that these symptoms are difficult to remedy unless their housing situation improves.
While the NHS is free at the point of need, patients may need to pay for transport or parking, and miss work to attend appointments. Ninety-five per cent of respondents said that poverty is preventing children from attending medical appointments. They told us how this meant that children’s conditions are at risk of worsening and leading to the need for emergency care.
- Paediatricians told us that poverty is impacting their day-to-day practice. Despite their best efforts to manage the health impacts that poverty has on children, it feels like an uphill battle.
- Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and Child Poverty Action Group are calling for the government to take bold action in the delivery of its forthcoming child poverty strategy. At a minimum the strategy must:
- Introduce binding targets to reduce and eliminate child poverty over the short, medium and long term.
- Invest in social security, starting with abolishing the two-child limit, to begin reversing the rising levels of child poverty.
- Unfreeze local housing allowance and end the benefit cap to help families secure housing that meets basic decency standards.
- Help families cover the costs of attending hospital and accessing healthcare by introducing an enhanced Young Patients Family Fund.
For anyone wanting to read the full report, it is available online but the summary is stark enough. Of course children aren’t the only priority but surely they should be right there at the top of the list?
