Homeless Alliance Response Team launched to provide healthcare for homeless
Date published: 16 November 2017
The HART team
Rochdale Health Alliance has launched the Homeless Alliance Response Team (HART) at Champness Hall soup kitchen in Rochdale.
The project aims to provide borough-wide healthcare to those who may not be able to access it, due to various unfortunate circumstances, and also bridge a gap between patients and general practitioners.
Both clinicians and non-clinicians have all come together to donate their time to make HART a reality: the team is made up of nurses, doctors, mental health work supporters, health visitors and chiropodists.
Dr Mohammed Jiva MBE, chairman of Rochdale Health Alliance and clinical lead for the project, said: “Homeless services across the borough are well-established, but delivery of good healthcare has been lacking.
“With the support of Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Clinical Commissioning Group (HMR CCG) and the excellent response from GPs, nurses, managers as well as volunteers from across many organisations, the ability to deliver safe, effective healthcare to this vulnerable population can now become a reality.”
GP practices have donated flu vaccines to the HART team to support the vaccination of the homeless population as winter sets in.
Jackie Taylor, project lead for the service, said : “This is a unique opportunity to co-ordinate the wide range of healthcare services with essential partners to address the health and wellbeing of some of the most vulnerable people within our community.
“This is a new way of working with different organisations from across Rochdale, which will help us understand what is required now and for the future to support better health and welfare for the homeless population within our borough.”
The service plans to deliver one clinic per week in both Heywood and Middleton (venues to be established) and two clinics during the evenings per week in Rochdale from early December.
Further information regarding the service can be obtained from Jackie Taylor:
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