If people cannot adequately heat their homes, and cannot afford nutritious food, then their health will deteriorate rapidly, NHS Confederation leaders Mathew Taylor and Victor Adebowale said in a letter to Finance Minister Nadhim Zahawi.

In a letter published this Friday, the two warned that rising electricity and gas prices, along with other pressures caused by rising costs of living, would leave many families with a choice between heating and eating.

They also warned that “energy poverty” affecting an increasing number of people would trigger disease outbreaks across the country, and deaths linked to low temperatures, currently estimated at around 10,000 per year.

This situation, they added, would result in increased hospitalizations and requests for other NHS services, which would put healthcare workers under intolerable stress.

Energy regulator (Ofgem) plans to raise it to 3,600 pounds sterling per year (more than 4,360 dollars) in October, the limit on prices that electricity and gas supply companies can charge their customers.

Consultants Cornwall Insight warned, however, that annual energy bills could rise to 4,266 pounds (over $5,100) from January, when Ofgem will review its ceiling.

The Labor Party and the Liberal Democrats advocated a freeze in electricity and gas prices at the 1,971 annual pounds (about $2,400) approved last April, and which represents a 54 percent increase over the previous period. .

The Conservative government led by interim Prime Minister Boris Johnson is implementing a multimillion-dollar package to help low-income households cope with the crisis, but the president himself admitted days ago that these funds were insufficient.

Johnson clarified, however, that for now no new action will be taken to deal with the crisis, as the task, he said, would suit whoever takes office on September 6.

The new Conservative Party leader and British Prime Minister will be chosen by the organization’s 160,000 members by postal vote, and his name will be known on September 5, when Parliament resumes its work after the summer recess.

mem/nm