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A NEW SCHEME funded by the HSE will aim to improve the healthcare and supports offered to homeless people when they present to hospitals for treatment.
It comes as new statistics show that there were over 2,000 cases where homeless people were discharged from Irish hospitals over a seven-year period.
Doctors say that due to the way the stats are calculated, this figure could be far greater while opposition TDs have said the HSE and Department of Health need to roll out effective outreach and after care services for homeless people upon leaving hospitals.
No fixed abode
In a parliamentary question, Minister Simon Harris was asked the number of patient discharges from hospitals in which they were discharged to no fixed address, i.e. homeless.
The query was referred to the HSE, which provided details on the numbers of patients discharged for each year from 2011 to 2017 who provided “no fixed abode” as their area of residence. Data for 2018 is not yet confirmed.
The numbers do not definitively indicate the exact number of homeless people who were discharged from hospital, as the numbers could indicate repeat cases.
The numbers rise over time before plateauing and falling again.
Overall, this adds up to 2,266 patient discharges over this seven-year period where the patient listed their address as no fixed abode when leaving hospital.
The figures were released to Sinn Féin’s health spokesperson Louise O’Reilly. She told TheJournal.ie that health is a significant factor for those who are homeless.
“Health needs have to be addressed in tandem with housing,” she said. “You cannot treat someone’s health needs only to discharge them onto the street, inevitably their problems will recur and escalate because they do not have a roof over their head.”
Pilot scheme
The HSE has already sought to identify the particular challenges facing homeless people when leaving hospital, providing the funding for a pilot project to develop an approach and finalise a protocol that would address the specific needs of such patients.
Dr Clíona Ní Cheallaigh is an infectious diseases and internal medicine physician at St James’s Hospital. This pilot project is being initially rolled out at St James’s and the Mater Hospital in Dublin.
She told TheJournal.ie that official stats in this area do not paint a full picture.
“It’s much higher than that,” Dr Ní Cheallaigh said. “We’d often have cases where someone who is homeless will give an old address. Or you’ll have people giving the hostel they’re in as an address.”
She said that the HSE funding would go some way to create a coordinated method of providing healthcare tailored towards those who are homeless.
The physician said: “People who are homeless can often be really sick, and being homeless can make their illness worse.
It’s basic things. There was one man recently who had cirrhosis. He was staying in a hostel which was closed during the day. He wasn’t taking the tablets he was prescribed because he had no access to a toilet during the day.
Dr Ní Cheallaigh said the pilot scheme was about ensuring that homeless people requiring healthcare are given it in a dignified manner, and offered the right supports when they exit the healthcare system.
“We’ve a multi-disciplinary team,” she said. “We aim to find the right place to discharge them. We meet with those who run the hostels in Merchants’ Quay, and the doctors and nurses they interact with. It’s about everybody talking to each other to try to get the best results we can.”
The physician said such a coordinated response is needed due to the complex and complicated needs that this portion of the population has.
When a person presents in an emergency department who is homeless, the scheme will see them referred to this team where they can put the correct supports in place.
They also provide items such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, shaving cream and razors so that people have the chance to bathe.
“It’s all about treating people they way they should be,” Ní Cheallaigh added. “People may feel ashamed that they are homeless. They may feel ashamed over an addiction, or over abuse they’ve previously suffered.
There hasn’t been a coordinated approach before. There’s been good practice, but it’s just about pulling that together. People are kind. But it’s about creating a system that’s kind. I hope we can roll this out nationwide in the future.
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Fecking hate cancer.
If you can dodge cancer you can dodge a dodgeball
Maybe spending too much time with Fran Stalinovskovichdavidovitchsky, the most dangerous women on the planet
Good news. I like him. His movies make me and the kids laugh.
A PSA (prostate specific antigen) test is a simple blood test. All men over the age of 50 should have one regularly. They can do great things now if they get it early enough. Well done Mr Stiller.
@Deborah Behan: So you don’t need a finger up your bum anymore? Happy days.
Deborah the problem with PSA testing is that normal levels don’t always exclude cancer and elevated levels don’t always mean cancer. This is highlighted in the article. Thus it is not conclusive if all men should be screened because it leads to a lot of testing, some of which is invasive, and many of these tests will be completed on people that don’t turn out to have prostate cancer. Hence the best advice is included in the article, ie from age 50 discuss with doctor. This is all complicated by the fact that prostrate cancer is quite common, and in many cases slow growing. Indeed most men with prorate cancer do not die from it.
Never rated him much as an actor but he’s to be commended for fighting this and making it public.
Always liked his movies a lot. Great news
Get that finger up yer bum early gents!
@Barton Hobbes: A doctors or E.T’s. as the blood test would be more reliable?
I heard that in men that the risk of getting this cancer is the same as your age, so someone 31 has a 31% chance of getting it and a man of 62 has a 62% chance of getting it, I do not know if this is 100% fact but interesting. It is believed taking a daily amount of zinc can help prevent this cancer but another one to look into?
What
“I heard that…”
“It is believed…”
Excellent scientific research!
Apparently pleasuring yourself prevents male prostate cancer.
I wonder was this caused by the time he zipped up his pants the wrong way?
I like him! Check out ‘Permanent Midnight’
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