First time guidance published to help homeless people access social care

New advice has been published for health experts outlining how they can help people experiencing homelessness access social care amid goals to end the problem ‘for good’.

Published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the Centre for Homelessness Impact (CHI), advice – published today – outlines GP practices should not require proof of address or other identification documents to register homeless patients.

Additionally, emphasis has been placed on how commissioners of care should offer drop-in or in-reach services to remove or lower barriers to accessing care, such as axing the requirement to travel to appointments.

To ensure advice is taken on board, CHI and NICE state staff should receive training about rights to health care, the importance of trauma-informed care and how discrimination and stigma can deter people experiencing homelessness from seeking social care help. 

Dr Ligia Teixeira, Chief Executive for the CHI, said: ‘Improving access to health and care and ensuring that services are of high quality and delivered flexible to suit the circumstances and wishes of the individual is a key step towards our goal to end homelessness for good.

‘This new manual should help people who deliver, plan and commission care for people experiencing homelessness to do this well, with examples of good practice, links to resources and check-lists to support its implementation.’

Guidance, which has been presented in the form of a manual, has been produced to accompany the first NICE guideline on integrated health and social care for people experiencing homelessness – recommending higher priority waiting lists, longer appointment times and waiving fines for missed appointments – which was published in March 2022 alongside CHI.

According to research from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), people with a history of homeless tend to have much poorer health outcomes than patients in the general population. The average age of death amongst rough sleepers in England and Wales in 2022 was 45 years old for men and 43 for women.

Dr Paul Chrisp, Director of the Centre for Guidelines at NICE, said: ‘We know people experiencing homelessness face significant barriers to accessing health and social care compared with the general population, resulting in huge health inequalities.

‘Following publication of the NICE guideline it was really important to set out practical ways for healthcare professionals to improve how people can access services tailored to their needs.

‘I am pleased that NICE is able to support this work to help shape and improve the service offered to people experiencing homelessness.’

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