Nurses living with fuel poverty are the focus of the Cavell Nurses' Trusts Safe and Warm Campaign, launching today.
Recent research shows that 65% of low income UK working families are struggling to pay their energy costs. The charity campaign is urging the UK public to think of nurses living with fuel poverty.
On average, it costs around £3 per day to heat a medium sized home in the UK and the charity is asking people to donate at least £3 so they can continue to provide financial support to struggling nurses.
Richard, from Norfolk worked as a nurse for 13 years but recently had to give up his job to look after his family when his wife became sick. As there was no income coming in to the household, theCavell Nurses' Trust were able to provide the funding to replace the boiler. 'We cannot thank the Cavell Nurses' Trust enough for the work they did on our behalf and we will forever be indebted to them for their efforts,' said Richard.
In the last year, the charity has helped over 1300 nurses and one third of the grants given have either paid for repairs to faulty heating systems or contributed towards heating the homes of nurses, midwives and healthcare assistants.
John Orchard, chief executive of Cavell Nurses' Trust, said: 'With around 30% of our grants going towards nurses' heating costs, there was a definite need to help nurses like Ricahrd out of fuel poverty. We think the Safe and Warm campaign has a simple message and we really hope we can make more nurses safe and warm this winter.'
The Cavell Nurses' Trust gives welfare support to nurses, midiwives, healthcare assistants and students experiencing financial or personal hardship, often due to domestic abuse, disability, working poverty and older age.
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