A study published in the British Journal of General Practice has painted a shaming picture of neglect and discrimination in terms of access to health services for homeless people in the UK.
Researchers interviewed 22 homeless adults at three Midland homeless shelters regarding their experiences of accessing NHS services.
While some of the participants described facing no barriers, others shared accounts of casual neglect, discrimination and inadequate resources across general practice, accident and emergency departments and mental health services.
Those that took part in the study expressed high satisfaction about their experiences at specialist healthcare centres for the homeless. However, some reported being denied registration at a GP, while others said they were discharged from hospital onto the streets with no access or referral to primary care providers, and others said they could not access services for substance misuse and mental health problems. One participant described resorting to committing crimes so that they would be sent to prison where they could then access health care.
Co-author Dr Vibhu Paudyal from the University of Birmingham said: "Stories of homeless people being denied access to mainstream GP services were so far anecdotal which our study sadly validates as the truth."
"Perceived stigma and discrimination in healthcare settings seems to be even more persistent and shows how much work needs to be done to make primary care more inclusive for homeless people,” he said.
"Improving access and inclusivity and prevention work particularly during an earlier stage in the homelessness cycle is the only way forward to alleviate the health impact of homelessness, its repeat cycle, and thereby to minimise homeless people's use of emergency department admissions and prevent unnecessary deaths."
