People facing homelessness offered key say in shaping vital healthcare

Brighton and Hove Common Ambition is a large-scale, city-wide partnership which aims to tackle issues in healthcare for people facing homelessness. Project leaders are now calling for people with lived experience of homelessness to come forward and participate in the project, whether simply to share experiences, or becoming a peer researcher and working with the core team. They are also calling for organisations with an involvement or interest in homelessness to get in touch.

Funded by the Health Foundation, the project aims to transform healthcare for people facing homelessness in our city by ensuring support is guided by their experiences and insights. This includes bringing people with lived experience of homelessness to work together with others in the sector (frontline workers, commissioners, directors, academics). Local partners in the project alongside the University of Brighton include Arch Healthcare, Justlife, Brighton & Hove CCG and the Brighton & Hove City Council Public Health Department.

The need for improved homeless health services is significant. According to the Pathway Faculty of Homeless and Inclusion Health, people experiencing homelessness are 34 times more likely to have tuberculosis, 50 times more likely to have Hepatitis C, 12 times more likely to have epilepsy, six times more likely to have heart disease, and five times more likely to have a stroke. Recent research by Homeless Link showed that in addition to physical health issues, 86% of individuals experiencing homelessness have mental health problems, 39% take drugs or are recovering from a drug problem and 27% have, or are recovering from, an alcohol problem. The average age of death for a man experiencing homelessness in the UK is 45 and for a woman it is 43 (ONS 2018).

Common Ambition project leader Nicky Pyper said, “In order for Brighton & Hove Common Ambition to succeed, it is vital that we get buy-in and participation from people who have lived through homelessness and housing insecurity, as well as those who work with them. As project lead, my role is not to run the project but to bring together those who have lived through homelessness.

“These are the people who will know what matters, what works and what doesn’t work. At the moment there is no formal channel for patients experiencing homelessness to provide feedback on the healthcare they receive. This project will change this, and embed a system of feedback and collaboration into the future.”

To get involved, contact Project Leader Nicky Pyper: nicky.pyper@nhs.net, or call 0751 7107344.