Northland Health Officials Support Coroner’s Report

Northland Health Officials Support Coroner’s Report

Northland Health officials have come out in support of Coroner Brant Shortland’s report which notes that the cold, damp house a two-year-old was living in contributed to her death.

In 2013, Northland DHB surveyed whanau with sick children in Whangarei Hospital. Seventy per cent said they had mould or damp in their houses and 47 per cent were crowded (about half of these had insufficient bedrooms, the other half because of fuel poverty and needing to sleep in one room in winter to keep warm).

Northland DHB paediatrician Dr Roger Tuck confirms the devastating impact damp and cold houses are having on our children: “As a community paediatrician, (a large proportion) of the children I see have illnesses that are caused by their living conditions.

“There is a close association between economic hardship, housing overcrowding and material deprivation and rheumatic fever prevalence. As Northland has close to the highest rate of Rheumatic Fever in New Zealand, this would support the idea that our children and whanau are really struggling.

“Today's busy clinic was a typical morning: too many children with rheumatic heart disease, skin infections and chronic respiratory illness.”

One of the most significant health interventions in Northland is the more than 7,000 homes insulated for free over the past six years, by the Healthy Homes Tai Tokerau project.

Manaia PHO chief executive Chris Farrelly notes that there are many children in these 7,000 homes who now go to bed every night in a warm dry house.

“We have evidence from studies, such as the Dunedin Longitudinal Study, that this can significantly reduce visits to GPs, hospital admissions, and days off school for these children. We do, though, strongly advocate for the introduction of warrant of fitness’ for all rental houses in New Zealand and are pleased to see the government’s latest consideration of this.”

However, this work has thrown light on just how poor much of the Northland housing stock is. With at least 12,000 sub-standard houses still to insulate, the concern is the government's current 60 per cent funding for this scheme ends in June next year.

Says Dr Tuck: “The health and lives of many of our children and other vulnerable people depend on this. We desperately need the government funding to continue so that we can prevent the serious preventable illnesses that lead to permanent damage, such as Rheumatic Fever and the life-shortening chronic lung diseases, such as Bronchiectasis.

“Although we are making some progress toward a better insulated and ventilated rental housing stock, the cost of heating these homes is still a huge challenge for too many families. Ministry of Social Development-targeted grants/coupons to enable low-income families to heat their homes would be money well-invested.”

ENDS

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