An NHS leader has said the health service has a "professional and moral responsibility" to act to reduce child poverty - just weeks after shocking statistics showed how the North East has become the UK's new child poverty capital.
Figures from the End Child Poverty Coalition highlighted how our region was the only one in the country to see an increase in child poverty over the last year. In Newcastle 42% of children are growing up in poverty. On the back of the worrying data, Dame Jackie Daniel - chair of the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust - has reflected on how, as the city's biggest employer and an "anchor institution", the trust has to play a vital role in reducing this.
Dame Jackie said the figures had "stopped me in my tracks" adding: "We are sadly all too conscious of families and children who struggle financially – and especially with the impact of the cost of living crisis – but to think that more than 40% of the children in our communities are experiencing poverty is heart-breaking. These are children who are born here in our hospital and who will be cared for throughout their lives by our teams."
In a report to the trust's board and writing online, Dame Jackie has laid out how NHS staff were acutely aware of the issue - and the impact growing up in poverty can have on health. She added: "Poverty has a significant and lifelong impact on the health of these young people, creating further inequality and embedding those economic inequalities into health conditions. We also know that children with disabilities and long-term health conditions are even more likely to experience poverty during their lifetimes."
In her report, she said staff often told her of concerns about the financial situations facing many patients - and that this had been exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis. "There is a clear link between poverty and poor health outcomes," she said. "So we have a professional as well as a moral responsibility to act. This involves reducing the effects of being in poverty through the way we provide services, and also working to reduce poverty directly through our economic and employment impact."
The End Child Poverty Coalition's figures show Newcastle and Gateshead have seen the biggest rises of any parts of the UK since 2014. As Dame Jackie pointed out, this equates to just over 11 children in a classroom of 30. However, the senior NHS figure - who is now also vice-chair of the NHS Confederation organisation - pointed to work achieved by the Collaborative Newcastle partnership and by the North East and North Cumbria child health and wellbeing network led by RVI medic Dr Mike McKean as ways in which work was being done to "take positive and effective action" on an issue that can seem overwhelming.
Collaborative Newcastle has introduced "community hubs" across the city, while "family partners" have been introduced to help those in need navigate the support available. The Evry Project - supported by The Chronicle and The Journal - also launched last week to improve opportunities for young people. The Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust is among the organisations committed to offer job opportunities and high quality apprenticeships to young people.
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