Foodbanks: their use and how to access one

摘要

I was recently at a conference of GPs and a paper was presented related to food poverty. In the discussion that followed, I realised that I, and many others in the room with me, lacked a full understanding of how a foodbank is run or accessed. Here I share my experiences of visiting a local foodbank in East Yorkshire with a foundation doctor colleague.Foodbanks are run by the voluntary sector, the largest being the Trussell Trust with a network of over 420 foodbanks.1 They gave away over 1.3 million emergency food supplies last year, nearly half a million to people with children.1When we arrived at the foodbank, we were struck by the unassuming location. It was basically a small office and storeroom situated halfway down a residential road. We …