title: The hidden practices and experiences of healthcare practitioners dealing with fuel poverty.
abstract: Fuel poverty negatively impacts a population's health affecting life chances along the life course. Moreover, it represents a substantial inequality in the UK. Healthcare practitioners (HCPs) have a key role in identifying and supporting patients who are fuel poor.
  
  
  
  A qualitative inquiry with District Nurses and General Practitioners, to explore their understanding and experiences of dealing with patients living in fuel poverty.
  
  
  
  Participants recognize fuel poverty by observing material cues. They perceive their relationship with the patient as pivotal to recognizing the fuel poor. Practitioners' sense of responsibility for their patients' social concerns is determined by their knowledge about the link to health outcomes. The services that they sign-post to are motivated by their experience dealing with the service, or their patients' experiences of the service.
  
  
  
  Participants' reliance on temporary material cues resulted in few experiences of recognition of the fuel poor. HCPs' perceptions of patient pride and the lack of personal relationship between doctor and patient presented barriers to identifying fuel poor patients. A limitation of this study is the small sample size of nine participants. These came from two professional groups, which afforded more depth of exploration, but may limit applicability to other professionals.
authors.affiliation: Health Education North West, Mersey Deanery, Liverpool L3 4BL, UK.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mc Conalogue
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Policy, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GL, UK.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kierans
authors.affiliation: North West Knowledge and Intelligence Team, Public Health England, Manchester M20 3LJ, UK.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moran
mesh_terms: D006361:Heating; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D010578:Petroleum / Q000191:economics; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011203:Poverty; D012940:Social Problems / Q000191:economics / Q000523:psychology; D006113:United Kingdom
chemical_list: D010578:Petroleum
keywords: fuel poverty; health professionals; public health