By Anna Tate
This meeting of the Health Scrutiny Committee focused on several main reports including Health and Homelessness. The Health and Homelessness report was delivered by David Regan, Director of Public Health, who is one of the co-chairs of the Health and Homelessness task group alongside Bernie Enright. The report sets out the efforts of the task group, which focus on collaboration with VCSE partners, including Urban Village GP Practice, The Mustard Tree and Change Grow Live, alongside a number of statutory health partners.
The report states that homelessness is a health issue but is not always viewed as one. People experiencing homelessness do not die from homelessness but from health inequalities, which are often treatable and can be prevented due to access to mainstream healthcare. Men and women experiencing homelessness are likely to die much younger than the average population (45 years old for men and 43 years old for women). Jo Walby from the Mustard Tree brought attention to the fact that individuals experiencing homelessness face barriers when trying to obtain medical prescriptions as they are required to be registered with a GP. Furthermore, they often struggle to access telephone support services due to a lack of personal phones or a private space to discuss their health issues. Jo suggested increased partnership working; there is need for more networks as people experiencing homelessness have complex needs. Dr. Sean Jackson, a GP at the Urban Village Medical practice, explained that people experiencing homelessness have the worst health inequalities of any social group, therefore a health response to this group of people needs to be proportionate. The meeting included personal testimony from three people currently being supported by Change Grow Live, who clearly explained how they had become homeless and how they were being supported to rebuild their lives.
The testimonies are very powerful and if you like to be inspired by people with lived experience of homelessness, please watch the video of the meeting at https://vimeo.com/showcase/7723560/video/882544353 .
You can also access the report by visiting: https://democracy.manchester.gov.uk/documents/s44155/Health%20and%20Home...
For more information about this meeting contact the administrator, Lee Walker on [email protected]