UK children’s doctors given advice on how to help families in poverty | Children’s health

Pediatricians plan to help poor families cope with the cost-of-living crisis and its feared health impact, amid concerns that cold homes will lead to serious health problems this winter.

In an unusual move, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) is providing UK paediatricians with detailed advice on how to help households in poverty.

It has compiled a range of resources, including advice for doctors treating children to use appointments to talk sensitively with their parents about issues that can have a major impact on their offspring’s health. These include diet, local pollution, socioeconomic circumstances and difficulties at home or at school, which are closely related to the risk of obesity, asthma or stress in children.

“Don’t be afraid,” says the RCPCH’s 17-page manual. “If we don’t ask families about things that may affect their children’s health, we are neglecting the children themselves.”

However, it adds that pediatricians “should choose their timing carefully [as] Parents can feel alienated when we are perceived as jumping in with two legs to ask about smoking when they are stressed about an acutely ill child with pneumonia.”

Doctors should then do everything in their power to refer poor families to places where they can get help with their living conditions, such as free school meals for their child.

The initiative comes weeks after leading health experts warned children could die of respiratory diseases this winter if rising energy bills force their families to turn off their heating.

According to a new RCPCH survey of nearly 500 members, six in 10 paediatricians believe the cost-of-living crisis is already affecting the health of children and adolescents. dr Camilla Kingdon, the college’s president, said his initiative should help address the serious inequalities affecting children’s health based on their family’s income.

For example, children from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to die in infancy, be hospitalized, be diagnosed with a medical condition, or become obese than children from affluent families.

“For pediatricians, health inequalities in children are obvious,” Kingdon said. “It is asthma that will not go away with poor quality damp housing, the devastating effects of food insecurity, poor dental health or low birth weight. Entire families are affected… These issues impact children throughout their lives, further perpetuating unacceptable inequalities.”

The resources would help pediatricians understand the nature of poverty and the skills needed to “talk openly about poverty in the clinical setting.”

“Understanding a family’s ability to purchase specific foods helps us better understand how to support healthy eating, background knowledge of a child’s living conditions means we can appropriately assess and manage their respiratory conditions, and the ability to Speaking openly with families about their financial situation means we can help the family find the right support and services outside of the pediatric clinical setting,” added Kingdon.

A Government spokesman said: “We know people are struggling as prices rise, which is why we have taken action as part of our £37billion support package to help households this winter, including protecting millions of the most vulnerable Vulnerable people with at least £1,200 direct payments, starting with £326 of living expenses.

“We have invested £79million in 2021-22 alone to expand child mental health services and we are promoting healthy eating among children. These include expanding access to free school meals, investing £24m in the national school breakfast scheme and food and milk payments through our Healthy Start scheme.