For Immediate Release 05.06.2025

  • One thousand clinicians and frontline homelessness workers back an open letter calling for an end to discharges from hospital to the street.
  • Leading health and homelessness organisations, including the Royal College of Physicians and Crisis, have signed the letter.
  • People with personal experience of homelessness will deliver the letter to Downing Street today, urging investment in specialist intermediate care in the Spending Review.
  • Homeless and inclusion health charity Pathway highlights the harsh reality faced each year by over 4,000 patients discharged from hospital to no fixed abode, due to a postcode lottery in safe alternatives.

Today (5th June), staff and volunteers from Pathway, the homeless and inclusion health charity, will deliver an open letter to Keir Starmer at 10 Downing Street, urging an end to the unsafe and inhumane practice of discharging people from hospital to the street.

Many of those handing in the letter have experienced homelessness themselves, and are supported by clinicians, nurses, and healthcare staff from across the UK. The letter is signed by over nearly 1,000 clinicians and frontline workers, and backed by some of the country’s most respected organisations in health and homelessness, including Crisis, Homeless Link, Groundswell, the Faculty of Public Health, and the Royal College of Physicians. “All anyone wants after a stay in hospital is somewhere safe and warm to recover,” the letter reads. “But this basic comfort is too often denied to people facing homelessness… Being discharged from hospital onto the streets is catastrophic for a person’s health.”

Figures show at least 4,200 people were discharged to ‘no fixed abode’ in 2022/23 — many while dealing with serious illnesses such as cancer, stroke, or HIV complications. People discharged into homelessness face 2.5 times the rate of emergency readmissions compared to housed patients, with secondary care costs eight times the average.

The signatories urge the government to back its own ambitions to shift care from hospital to the community with tangible investment in specialist services. Alma Economics has found that specialist intermediate care for people experiencing homelessness is not only effective at improving health outcomes, but also highly cost-effective, freeing up vital hospital bed space and reducing pressures on A&E and ambulance services.

The intervention comes not long after Pathway’s award-winning garden at the Chelsea Flower Show, designed by people with lived experience of homelessness and showcasing the healing power of community and care.

Dr Chris Sargeant, Medical Director at Pathway said, “At Pathway, our teams see the consequences of unsafe hospital discharge every day. But we also see what’s possible when people are given a safe place to recover, and coordinated support to rebuild their lives. This letter is about making that care the norm, not the exception.”

Alex Bax, CEO of Pathway, said “With the Spending Review and a new homelessness strategy on the horizon, this is a pivotal moment. The next government has the chance to make an immediate, measurable difference to thousands of people — and to the NHS — by ending discharges to the street.”

The letter urges Keir Starmer and his team to use the upcoming cross-Government homelessness strategy, NHS 10-Year Plan, and next week’s Spending Review to commit to providing specialist hospital discharge teams and intermediate care beds for people facing homelessness.

“It doesn’t have to be this way,” the letter concludes. “Ending this practice would represent one of the most immediate and tangible steps toward a fairer, more effective NHS.”

Notes to Editors:

  • Interviews available: Healthcare professionals, Pathway clinicians, and people with lived experience of homelessness are available for interview.
  • Full text of the letter and signatory list available upon request
  • Alma Economics analysis on intermediate care is available here
  • For media enquiries, interviews, and press access at Downing Street, please contact Steph Sykes on 07967 100 404 or stephanie.sykes@pathway.org.uk or Dee O’Connell on 07989 396 320 or dee.oconnell@pathway.org.uk

Photos of Pathway’s garden at RHS Chelsea available on request.