What Are Your Local Services?
Feedback gained from various healthcare professionals showed they would feel more empowered and comfortable consulting with a homeless patient if they knew more about their local resources. Signposting a patient to CRISIS, SHELTER or ST MUNGO'S may well be extremely helpful but people might also benefit from something a bit closer to home. Whilst we wholeheartedly agree with this, it would not be possible to link to every organisation involved with homelessness in every area. One problem is how to define an 'area' (should it be by town, local authority, clinical commissioning group or even deanery?). Another problem is the fact that organisations have a tendency to change name, remit and structure with alarming frequency and so any collation of resources produced would likely be out of date before it was even published.
You might consider what local HEALTH SERVICES you can access in your role and then which local SUPPORT SERVICES are in your area (i.e your town).
For example, a GP or registrar might have his or her local HEALTH SERVICES such as:
Shelter and Homeless UK have very useful pages where you can search for local homeless services by postcode or town and these are kept up to date.
You might consider what local HEALTH SERVICES you can access in your role and then which local SUPPORT SERVICES are in your area (i.e your town).
For example, a GP or registrar might have his or her local HEALTH SERVICES such as:
- a drugs and alcohol service
- a smoking cessation service
- a Community Mental Health Team
- an emergency hostel/night shelter run by a local homeless charity
- the Citizen's Advice Bureau
- the local council
- a contact at social services
- a nearby Crisis Centre
Shelter and Homeless UK have very useful pages where you can search for local homeless services by postcode or town and these are kept up to date.