TORY austerity is wrecking public health as hospitals struggle with more and more patients exhibiting poverty-related illnesses, nurses warned yesterday.

Almost four in 10 nurses have treated patients for malnutrition or food poverty-related illness, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) revealed as its congress got under way in Glasgow at the weekend.

A similar number said they had seen patients struggling with health issues relating to inadequate or unsafe housing.

The survey of more than 10,000 nurses and healthcare assistants across Britain also found that 21 per cent had seen patients affected by a lack of heating in their homes.

RCN general secretary Janet Davies said the survey revealed a “huge increase in ill-health which could have been prevented.”

Ms Davies warned that “inadequate or unsafe housing has a huge effect on health, as does overcrowding, food poverty, overwork, unemployment and family breakdown,” adding “dealing with just one of these problems can take its toll on both mental and physical health, but the reality is that many people live with many of them.”

Ms Davies said there was now “a widening divide between people who are living long and healthy lives and those who are struggling due to poor housing or poverty — and this inequality in itself is something that should not be tolerated.”

The RCN also fears that efforts to tackle the issues and to help people live healthier lives “are in danger of going backwards because of aggressive public health funding cuts.”

She called on the government to make “real, consistent progress” on tackling these issues in order to “avoid the consequences of profound social problems in years to come.”