Pathway’s medical director Dr Nigel Hewett, Chairman, Professor Aidan Halligan, and Chief Executive, Alex Bax have co-authored this month’s editorial in the British Journal of Hospital Medicine. The editorial suggests that getting care right for homeless people in hospital is an ‘acid test’ for the whole system. Homeless patients often have multiple health problems that challenge clinical boundaries, and almost by definition they will bring a whole collection of social problems with them to hospital.
Pathway’s model of dedicated homeless teams based in hospitals brings much better integration to secondary care. Pathway is busy working to share this model across the NHS. The next stage is to develop medical respite provision to ensure homeless patients get safe and appropriate convalescence and rehabilitation.
https://www.pathway.org.uk/publications/pathway-research-and-service-development-publications/