HUNGRY patients are seeing doctors because they "don't have enough to eat", as the number of people using food banks in Belfast increased by almost 500 per cent in a year.
Last year, the Trussell Trust handed out three-day emergency food to 11,697 people in the city during 2013-14.
And the Belfast Food Network has warned "forthcoming changes in welfare benefits may deepen an already alarming crisis".
Most people who were helped were having trouble making ends meet due to low incomes, but others had been pushed into desperation by benefit delays, cuts and sanctions.
Thirty-six organisations distribute aid parcels across through food banks or independently and 19 provide free cooked meals.
The Belfast Food Network unveiled the first ever piece of research on the devastating impact of food poverty in the city yesterday as part of its Enough is Enough project.
The study will collate data on the provision of emergency food and supplement it with data on the experiences of front-line professionals who work directly with clients affected by food poverty and the clients themselves.
The initial results of the study show a staggering increase in poverty levels in Belfast, revealing the impact of food poverty on families and young children.
It also highlights the increase in the numbers of working people requiring emergency food.
Belfast now has eight food banks with three more under development.
Kevin Higgins of Advice NI, said "increasing numbers of families" need emergency food support and "more working people find themselves queueing for a parcel at a food bank".
"It is a shocking indictment on our society that young children's life chances are being damaged as family budgets are pushed to the brink," he said.
Jeni McCaughey, who has been an 'inner city' GP for 30 years, said the problems are bringing increasing numbers of people to her practice suffering from "stress and worry".
"I have noticed in the past few years, an increase in the number of times patients are disclosing severe financial difficulties. At times these lead to problems with them having enough to eat," she said.
"We are referring increasing numbers to our local food bank.
"My colleagues and I fully support efforts to encourage people back into work as this is often beneficial for health, however we are finding patients whose benefits have been reduced inappropriately leading to significant stress and worry."
Belfast Food Network coordinator Kerry Melville said it is "appalling that people end up unable to feed themselves in an affluent society".