09.04.15
Rapid food bank rise sees doctors taking on ‘gatekeeper’ role
GPs are having to take on gatekeeper roles in the current food bank system, with an estimated 27,000 frontline care professionals providing referrals in 2013-14, according to new research.
The Oxford University research, which revealed that there is ‘clear evidence’ that food banks are opening in areas experiencing greater cuts in spending on local services and central welfare benefits and higher unemployment rates, has called for action to tackle the root causes of the problem.
The study highlighted that the rapid spread of food banks is a new phenomenon, raising concerns from the UK’s Faculty of Public Health that “the welfare system is increasingly failing to provide a robust last line of defence against hunger”.
But it cites a difficulty in getting referrals to food banks from those able to do so, who include doctors, the police, social workers and Citizens’ Advice Bureau staff. However, the research highlights that one recent survey of 522 GPs found that 16% had been asked for such referrals.
Professor David Stuckler of Oxford University's sociology department, a senior author of the report, said: “We found clear evidence that areas of the UK facing greater unemployment, sanctions and budget cuts have significantly greater rates of people seeking emergency food aid.
“This pattern is consistent even after adjusting for the possibility that some areas have greater capacity to give support than others.”
Although the researchers acknowledge that data are not always easy to obtain they call for further research into other factors that may influence emergency food aid. But added “we have likely underestimated the true burden of food insecurity in the UK”.
For example, the study estimates that the likelihood of a food bank opening in an area that did not experience a cut in local authority spending in either of the past two years was 14.5%. This figure tripled to 52% for a local authority that experienced a budget cut of 3% in spending in both years.
They also found that greater central government welfare cuts, sanctioning, and unemployment rates were significantly associated with higher rates of food parcel distribution after accounting for the capacity of food banks to provide food. For example, each 1% cut in spending on central welfare benefits was associated with a 0.16 percentage point rise in food parcel distribution.
The report, published in the British Medical Journal, looked at Trussell Trust data that showed a rise in the number of food banks opened by the Christian charity from 29 in 2009-10 to 251 in 2013-14. The latter year saw it supply food parcels to 913,138 children and adults.
They linked information on the Trussell Trust’s food bank operations to budgetary and socioeconomic data from 375 UK local authorities from 2006-07 to 2013-14.
But a spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions said: “The government spends £94bn a year on working-age benefits and provides a wide range of advice and assistance for anyone in need of additional support.
“The vast majority of benefits are processed on time with improvements being made year on year and the number of sanctions has actually gone down.”
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