By Cherie Gordon
The health of homeless people is being put at serious risk because they are not getting the support they need after being discharged from hospital, a survey has found.
The report, carried out by Shadow Housing Minister Grant Shapps, shows that, in the South West, the number of homeless people leaving hospital to live on the streets has shot up in the past five years.
Mr Shapps believes the Government is failing some of society’s most vulnerable people by not giving them the aftercare support they need.
He said: “This report highlights the extremely precarious existence within which homeless people live, with many entering a vicious circle of homelessness which is difficult to break without active intervention.”
The report looked at the number of patients recorded as leaving hospital with no fixed abode from 2003 to 2007.
South Devon Healthcare NHS Trust has seen the third highest increase nationally, with 18 people discharged on to the streets in 2003 rising to 81 last year – a jump of 350 per cent.
Throughout the UK, there has been a 36 per cent increase in the number of homeless patients being discharged to the streets in the past five years.
In the Westcountry, there was a 13 per cent increase by Plymouth Hospitals Trust, from 61 in 2003 to 69 last year, and Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust saw an increase of 36 per cent from 14 to 19.
In Cornwall, there was a 40 per cent rise at Royal Cornwall NHS Trust from 146 people to 205.
Mr Shapps said the aim of the report was to assess the extent of the problem of hospitals releasing patients on to the street with no idea where to go.
He said: “These figures reveal how homelessness and healthcare are inextricably linked and how easily a vicious circle can develop for those who are discharged from hospital on to our streets.”
But South Devon Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said the figures were flawed.
Caroline Hill, head of corporate communications for the trust, said the data used in the report did not reflect homeless figures, but hospital admission numbers where no address was given by the patient.
She said: “We would hope that South Devon Healthcare would, in fact, be seen as an example of good practice in relation to caring for homeless people on several counts: having a comprehensive policy to guide staff about the agencies and organisations locally who anyone without an address can be referred to for help and the procedures to put those referrals in place; having an on-site discharge co-ordination team with the expertise to train and advise staff on this; and having seven-days-a- week social services and occupational therapy cover in our Accident and Emergency Department, so that anyone with no fixed abode, even if they do not require admission to hospital or treatment, can have information provided about where they can obtain meals and get a roof over their head.”
Her comments are echoed by Steve Ellis, chief executive of Cornwall’s St Petroc’s Society, which provides accommodation and social care services for single homeless people in the county.
He said: “I am startled by the figure. I do not believe that 205 people have come to us – that is practically one every working day, and that is not the case.”
In response, Mr Shapps said: “We sought to indicate the number of people being identified as ‘of no fixed abode’. The report is not intended to identify rough-sleeping homeless, but rather to indicate an overall increase in the number of people without fixed accommodation.”
Mr Shapps has recommended that more work be done between individual NHS trusts and homeless organisations to provide support.
He said: “Much more needs to be done to link up those patients who are discharged into homelessness with the many excellent organisations out there who have the expertise to help.
“We are now proposing progressive policies aimed at both recognising the problem and addressing the solutions, because failing this group of people is counterproductive in terms of their being able to rejoin mainstream society and both the cost to their own health and the NHS as a whole.”
(c) 2008 Western Morning News, The Plymouth (UK). Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
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