The UK, 2020: Minister for Work and Pensions, Dr Thérèse Coffey, conveyed publicly that a combined foodbank and food redistribution scheme is the “perfect way” to address the fact that nurses in the UK need to use foodbanks: bit.ly/315Iy27. #Nurses #Foodbanks
On 26 January 2020, the day before the minister’s statement, it was reported that 4-5 nurses used the North Bristol Foodbank, England. The foodbank manager said: ‘these are genuine people in crisis’. bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-n…
December 2019: a full-time nurse in Liverpool, England, needed to use a foodbank. She said: "I struggled in silence for so long, I was too ashamed to go at first […] it shouldn't be like this. But I literally had nothing, no choice.” bit.ly/2OboYfQ
The latest data from the Trussell Trust, which operates a network of foodbanks in the UK, show a 23% increase in the number of emergency food parcels given to people in crisis over the preceding six months. bit.ly/2GM5fzn
Over 12% of those using foodbanks are in work. The Institute of Fiscal Studies reported in June 2019 that a fifth of people in working households are trapped in relative poverty; reasons include steeper housing costs for the low-paid and slow wage growth. bit.ly/37GYNFE
In November 2019, research showed that the Conservative government’s welfare policies had “sizeable and significant effects” in pushing up demand for food parcels. bit.ly/3aRwxSx
The failure of the Tories to properly address food insecurity reflects ideological callousness to hardship & entitled prejudice, including views that people use foodbanks because foodbanks “give stuff away” (bit.ly/2O9ko1G) and are “uplifting” (bit.ly/3aYVknZ).
It's unsurprising that in the week the minister patronises the poor, we learn her department’s decisions regarding an unemployed disabled man left him to starve to death (bit.ly/2S43p1E) and a court ruled her department acted unlawfully, again: bit.ly/2tdvqvA.
Foodbanks aren’t any ‘way’ to address challenges facing nurses or anyone else in one of the world’s richest economies. This Tory government must ensure that people receive decent pay & conditions, obtain adequate benefits when necessary, and are accorded the respect they deserve.
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