NEF launch scheme to combat winter deaths
‘Better Housing, Better Health’, which will provide efficiency grants of up to £2,500 for residents with respiratory or cardiovascular illnesses, has been set up in partnership with eleven local authorities across Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, with the scheme hoped to reduce excess winter deaths, which totalled an estimated 43,900 in the UK in 2014/15.
The initiative, which will receive funding from the British Gas Energy Trust, will also offer free surveys for vulnerable residents to identify potential risks to health, as well as providing support through benefits checks, fuel debt mediation and switching energy tariff or supplier.
The project aims to ease the pressure on the NHS, which spends £1.36bn in hospital and primary care annually for people affected by cold homes, according to the NEF, while the scheme will also be giving free training to frontline health and social care staff.
Alexandra Steeland, manager of the project at NEF, emphasises the fact that this time of year is when anyone living in a cold or damp home with a cardiovascular disease or a respiratory illness is most affected by the weather.
“It’s also the time of year when the NHS is at its most stretched. Better Housing, Better Health will help those most affected and aims to lessen the stress on local medical and social services,” she said.
For information on how to apply for a grant or get involved with the scheme, visit the ‘Better Housing, Better Health’ section of the NEF website.
