Seven in 10 healthcare workers see patients unable to pay energy bills

3 March 2025, 18:17

'Health is made at home, hospitals are for repairs.' This is especially the case for children and young people, for whom nurturing and healthy built-environments play a pivotal role in their development, growth and flourishing.

Sadly this is not a reality for all families and households for whom yet another round of rising energy bills in the weeks ahead will force more impossible choices over warm meals or warm rooms.

More than ever, during my day-to-day as a children’s doctor, parents and carers are sharing with me harrowing stories of not being able to meet the essential needs of their children, and it turns out I’m far from alone.

New research reveals that seven out of ten health workers (70%) regularly see patients forced to go without energy because they are unable to pay their bills; one in ten see patients in this position almost every day. Almost three quarters (72%) believe poor-quality housing worsens chronic health conditions or delays treatment of them, and two thirds (67%) see children experiencing respiratory problems caused or worsened by mould or damp regularly.

Unaffordable energy bills on top of having some of the least energy-efficient housing in Europe, only adds insult to injury. Like many colleagues in hospitals, clinics and surgeries across the UK, I worry for sending a child and their family back to a cold and damp home with inhalers and a course of medicines, knowing full well that it will only be a matter of days, or in some cases just hours, before the harmful effects that led them to seek medical care, once again take hold. By the time they are next followed up by a community nurse or in the clinic, damage, which is often irreparable, will be done.

With this in mind, we should remember that rising housing costs are not simply an unfortunate byproduct of natural or benign economic conditions; they are the intended result of the ‘cost of greed crisis’; policies that prioritise creaming off profit over our collective health and the prosperity of communities. An eye-watering £457 billion in profits has been shared among just 20 energy companies such as Shell and Equinor over the last 4 years, according to the End Fuel Poverty Coalition.

Since its inception, the NHS was never meant to stand alone in its role supporting the health of the public. When Nye Bevan became a minister, it was a Minister for Health and Housing, such is the significance of the link between poor quality housing and illness.

Urgent and transformative change is needed in the housing and energy sectors to ensure current and future generations of children and young people can reach their full potential. Policies that address energy affordability such as a social tariff, improvements to the energy efficiency of homes, alongside policies that protect renters and increase social housing supply have potential to make a meaningful difference.

Reducing demand on an under-resourced NHS, thereby enabling the delivery of high quality care, whilst supporting families and neighbourhoods to thrive in warm and safe homes offers a clear win-win.

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Dr Amaran Uthayakumar-Cumarasamy is an NHS Children's Doctor and member of the public health campaigning organisation Medact.

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