Dear Editor
Two weeks before the BMJ with this shocking article dropped through my letter box a letter had dropped through telling me that I would be receiving a Winter Fuel Payment of £250, my need for this payment based only on the fact that I was “born before the 25th of September 1957”. I am not a multimillionaire but being in receipt of a NHS pension based on a Consultant salary I cannot be classified as being in poverty, and it looks as though even multi millionaires will also get this payment.
The solution to the problem of cold homes is primarily structural and the CMO emphasised the need for environmental improvement in his 2023 Annual Report titled Health in an Ageing Society. It is clear that in the short term financial help has to be given to people living in poverty and the latest report on the State of Ageing by the Centre for Ageing Better describes the magnitude of this problem but taking into account climate changing priority has to be given to a balance of investment that will reduce the incidence of hypothermia at the lowest possible carbon cost.
This is not a new problem (1) and action is being taken nationally this winter locally. AgeUK Oxfordshire has launched a campaign to encourage people who are being given only the £250 to donate their payment to their campaign to help people directly and immediately to make their homes warmer. Perhaps the BMJ should launch a campaign for every doctor with a pension based on full time salary to transfer their £250 to their local AgeUK. This would be a big sum but what if everyone did this and it may be that least 10% of the over-65s are in this category, that would be more than £250,000,000. Of course the Government could switched that amount of money directly to pay for more insulation and financial support for people in poverty
Shifting resources from an investment that brings little added value to individuals or society to investment that would reduce the need for hospital admission would be a perfect example of value based healthcare
Muir
Sir Muir Gray CBE MD
Re: How the world is tackling the cold homes health crisis