Northern Ireland doctors are “patching children up to send them back to the environment that made them sick in the first place” thanks to spiralling poverty, a senior medic warned today.
The damning indictment emerged as campaigners came together at Stormont to call for more action in the face of the cost of living crisis.
Dr Julie-Ann Maney, a consultant in paediatric emergency medicine at the Royal Victoria Hospital for Sick Children, told the Crushed by the Cost of Living event children’s brains and lungs are not developing properly thanks to poverty induced living conditions.
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The conference, organised Dr Ciara Fitzpatrick an Ulster University lecturer researching the social security system and socio-economic rights, heard both stories of inescapable hardship and pleads for politicians to do more to help the most vulnerable.
Dr Maney said that in her work she “sees the affects of poverty every single day”, adding that it “directly affects children’s health”. Children in Northern Ireland, she added, are “starting from a poor health footing in 2022” with 26% living in poverty which means “their health is poor, their mental health is poor”.
Children from the poorest households are twice as likely to die as those from the richest, she told the audience.
But calling for the Stormont Executive to do more, she added that medics are “patching children up to send them back to the environment that made them sick in the first place”.
Austerity imposed since 2010, she added, has seen households become poorer with the affects visible every day at the Royal.
Dr Maney added: “I see the affects of poverty every single day. Children have poor health, they have poor mental health, I see parents and children who are skipping meals. They can’t heat their homes, they can’t come to appointments because they can’t afford the cost of travel. Our children are suffering because of a lack of government. They need a functioning Executive and for our politicians to be back at work.
“We need an anti-poverty strategy and an associated funding plan. Our children in particular need further financial support, so they can live a healthy life and achieve their full potential.”
The consultant said people may ask how the “intolerable financial stress” people are facing affects physical health.
She added: “Failure to make ends meet causes mental health crises. It causes people to be mentally ill and not just a period of unhappiness, it’s constant and it’s very damaging to children. Children’s brains are still developing and if you have a parent with mental illness or living with intolerable financial crisis their brains don’t develop in the same way other people’s brains develop.
“Also, they’re living in damp and uncomfortable accommodation so their lungs don’t develop properly. So I’ll say this to the politicians in the room. This is simply not acceptable for our children. Get back to work, form an Executive.
The event heard that long-term measures are needed including the implementation of an anti-poverty strategy. However also outlined were ‘Four Emergency Policy Interventions’ which, organisers say, could address issues in the short-term.
These are:
* Pause social security debt for six months;
* Reinstate the £20 uplift to Universal Credit and extend it to legacy benefits;
* A one-off payment of £500 to those entitled to disability benefits or carer’s allowance;
* Remove the two-child limit for Universal Credit and Child Tax Credit.
Also addressing the event, Andy McClenaghan from the British Association of Social Workers said he was “angry” as he outlined how mental health problems are “increasingly prevalent” in deprived areas with children in those same areas six times more likely to be placed on the child protection register.
Nuala Toman from Disability Action told the audience that people with disabilities are “rationing access to life saving machinery because of rising energy costs”. She warned the cost of living crisis will “price some disabled people out of existence”, adding that some “will die” due to rising bills.
Reverend Brian Anderson, from the East Belfast Mission, said he deals with people who have been forced to go to loan-sharks for money. Two people, he added, had borrowed £100, he said, which within a week became £200 then £400 the next week “and unless we had intervened and the PSNI had become involved that would have ended up in criminality with people being asked to transport goods that were not legal”. He added “that’s the kind of situation lots of people find themselves in”.
Sinn Féin MLA Carál Ní Chuilín addressed the event also saying that it was the DUP who were blocking the formation of an Executive and an anti-poverty strategy not other MLAs.
Speaking following the event, Dr Fitzpatrick said: “The people of Northern Ireland are facing a crisis of epic proportions. Without leadership and action from the politicians that represent us all, we risk seeing thousands more households facing the indignity of destitution this winter.
“The emergency response measures that we are proposing are costed for a period of six months between October 2022 and April 2023. We are suggesting that the money that is currently stuck in the Department of Finance due to the absence of an NI Executive is used to the fund the measures to prevent significant societal repercussions of a major poverty crisis.”
Carol Gallagher, who spoke at the event, added: “We have come together today to call on our politicians to act now, not later. As we head into the winter months there are many households that will struggle to put food on the table and oil in the tank - this includes my own household.
“I am a working mother who is trying her best in the most difficult circumstances. My job as a substitute teacher is precarious in nature. If I don’t work, I don’t get paid. The small contribution I receive on top of my wages from Universal Credit is not enough to cover my monthly bills. There is always a shortfall and meeting these basic spending commitments is set to become acutely difficult. It fills me with anxiety and dread, as I worry about the health and well-being of my family.
“It is time for the Northern Ireland Executive to show leadership by reforming and urgently putting in place the measures that have been called for today. Our children’s future depends on it.”
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