Abstract
When the results of our study of housing, insulation and health were published in the British Medical Journal, the US editor Douglas Kamerow stated, in one of the accompanying editorials, 'You don't have to work very long taking care of poor people before you realise that the contents of our medical bag of tricks are often insufficient to improve their health status. One key contributor to ill health is the environment around the patient—do people smoke? Can the family afford healthy food? Is the home safe and warm?'