Homeless unable to secure healthcare

[meecha]

hi

 

hope im not hijacking here but just wanted to tell about the probs we face at work. i work in a hostel for people who are homeless in northern ireland. there is a local health centre with 3 surgeries in the building but none of them will take our service users as permanant patients as we are temporary accommodation. this is despite the fact that a person can stay with us for a max of 2 years. we ARE able to get appointments but only as temp patients and that is ok but does mean they are not getting offered the additional services eg swine flu jab. most of our service users are chronic alcoholics who have serious underlying health issues but do not get offered the same service as permanantly registered patients. i personally do not think this is fair. is there anything that can be done?

[reallymadwoman]

Not my area of expertise at all, but how about speaking to someone at the PCT about the situation? In the long run, if your service users are not getting preventative treatment it's the PCT who will end up footing the bill.