Naomi Campbell is an urgent hospice care nurse for Marie Curie. She provides palliative nursing care to patients in their homes.
“Many of them are affected by fuel poverty,” Naomi said.
“I think it is getting worse. People are struggling more, and the problem is that your energy needs increase hugely when you’re dying at home.
“Somebody is already struggling with the fact that they’re dying. To then know that they can’t keep their house warm.”
Naomi said a number of factors contribute to the increased energy needs, including the need to stay warm, different sleeping patterns, and essential medical devices.
She said some patients have turned down services that could help improve their quality of life because they can’t pay their electricity bills.
Terminal illness adds further costs for patients, such as the cost of transport to and from hospital appointments, Naomi added.
“I’m really saddened,” she said.
“The support is limited, there is very little out there. There is no reduction in costs of their electricity, even though their needs are so much higher and essential for their care.”
Naomi added that Marie Curie have called for the implementation of a “social tariff” for people with terminal illnesses, to ease their financial burden.
“It would make such a huge difference to have that bit of extra money in your last months of life, so you’re comfortable and you can spend it with your family,” she said.
She said some people spend the end of their life working because they “don’t have any other access to money”.
“You end up dying not being able to keep your house warm. That to me is just devastating.”
Households across Northern Ireland will get the one-off £63 reduction in electricity bills from this month.
It will be applied automatically without the need for an application.
The reduction is the local outworking of two schemes which apply in Great Britain, which has a separately regulated electricity market.
The schemes are being funded by the UK government.
Bank payment customers will have their bills automatically reduced while pay-as-you-go customers will receive £63 in credit when they top up their meter.
The only complication for pay-as-you-go customers is they should not buy more than £112 of credit if they want to get the discount all in one go.
That is because meters are set up to take a maximum payment of £175. Top ups over this value means the £63 payment will be split over a subsequent top up.
Last month, applications opened for a separate means-tested scheme to provide a £100 voucher to some heating oil users.
It is jointly funded by Stormont and the UK government.
Two thirds of homes in Northern Ireland use home heating oil, the cost of which has also soared in recent months due to the US conflict with Iran.
Data from the NI consumer council suggests 500 litres of home heating oil currently costs around £560, more than twice the price compared to this time last year.
