Dr Nigel Hewett started work on a homeless health needs assessment for Kings Health Partners in summer 2012. The study reviewed homeless admissions and A&E attendances across Guys and St Thomas’, Kings College Hospital, and South London and the Maudsley Mental Health Trust. Jointly authored with Nurse Sam Dorney-Smith from the Three Boroughs team the full report is available below. Following up the results of the needs assessment, that found for example that St Thomas’ has the largest number of unscheduled admissions of homeless patients of any hospital we have yet come across, recruitment for a full Pathway team to work across Guy’s, St Thomas’ and Kings College Hospitals took place in autumn 2013.
The team went live with patients on 6th January. It is our largest Pathway team yet in place. There is more information on the team here https://www.kingshealthpartners.org/news/improving-care-for-the-homeless
The final report of the KHP Needs Assessment is available here.
The KHP Pathway Homelessness Team was launched in January 2014. This report highlights the outcomes of the first 3 months of service provision. This team takes the Pathway model and delivers it at scale across two Foundation Trusts. The range of professionals involved and the scale of the service are unprecedented, but at heart this remains individual care coordination delivered by a multi-disciplinary team. Funding has been confirmed to extend the service to include South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Health Trust from Autumn 2014.