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Appendix C. Argyll & Clyde Health Board - Health of Homeless People
Topics: Hard to Reach Groups; Mental Health; Substance Misuse
Background
The project had three key objectives. These were;
1. To have a dedicated homeless person's nurse working in conjunction with local authority homeless officers in the project area
2. To increase numbers accessing drugs misuse and mental health services
3. To facilitate access to drugs misuse and mental health services
The project period covered January 2006 to March 2007.
Funding allocation
The pilot was allocated £454,000
Aim(s)
To co-ordinate improved access to services needed for increased well-being by homeless people in the project area.
Methodology
Six project nurses were located across the project areas in a variety of settings including offices of local authority Homeless Persons Officers, NHS offices and voluntary sector offices.
Eligible people, defined according the "Improving Health and Homelessness in Partnership: The Way Forward" action plan, were offered a referral to a project nurse or self-referred.
Those who were referred were invited to undergo a health assessment. This recorded a range of health details including general health/ health history and use of services relating to drug misuse and mental health. A summary and action plan was then created for each participant and where appropriate, participants were directed to relevant healthcare services.
Key results
The total number of people who completed a health assessment form with a project nurse during the project period was 356.
Conclusions
The project allowed nurses to meet the unmet needs of homeless people by improving their access to healthcare. This was achieved by first agreeing on the problems with the clients and then achieving their support, advocacy and co-operation with an enormous range of services required to meet those needs.
Therefore, in this sense, it can be deemed to be a success. However, while beyond the scope of the evaluation, questions remain as to its cost-effectiveness and whether it may be better to co-ordinate existing services, rather than establish a specialist team.
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