This paper is one of a series of six commissioned by Pathway to inform policy development through the NHS 10-year plan and the cross-Government homelessness strategy.
Drawing on the expertise of our Pathway Fellows, other experts, and our colleagues with lived experience of homelessness, each paper identifies actionable policies for change. All the papers underline the importance of a preventative approach, prioritising action which stops social and economic disadvantage leading to exclusion, collapsing health and early mortality.
You can watch the launch of our Policy Papers for Inclusion Health here.
Fulfilling the promise of prevention – the role of general practice in homeless and inclusion health
People in inclusion health groups face significant barriers to accessing general practice, leading to intensive use of acute services. This paper sets out a key role for General Practice in achieving the shift from sickness to prevention, addressing the extreme health inequalities faced by people in health inclusion groups.
Despite pockets of good practice, widespread system change is needed to ensure consistency and to support the flexible, holistic approach needed to address the poor health outcomes experienced by vulnerable groups.
The paper shows how the preventative potential of general practice can be maximised through a combination of population health management approaches, reform of general practice funding mechanisms, and multi-disciplinary neighbourhood hubs. Such reforms can be a blueprint for how general practice deals with other frail, multi-morbid groups of patients in the wider population.
About the author
Dr Aaminah Verity is a GP based in Lewisham. She has published research exploring how total triage, remote and online consulting affects access to GP services for inclusion health populations. She is also the Community of Practice Lead for Health Equity for Lewisham, supporting Health Equity Fellows across Lewisham to develop programs of work to address health inequalities at a PCN level in partnership with local communities.
Dr Verity has spent time working with the charity Doctors of the World both in the UK and abroad, providing healthcare to refugees and developing tools to help improve access to GP surgeries for excluded populations.