Nurse-led mental and physical healthcare for the homeless community: A qualitative evaluation

Lauren Bell, Maxine Whelan, Emily Fernandez, Deborah Lycett

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    3 Citations (Scopus)
    207 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    Increased morbidity and mortality rates are prominent issues among homeless individuals. To help reduce these health inequalities, dedicated senior mental and physical health nurses have been deployed to work within and alongside local statutory and voluntary organisations. This qualitative evaluation examined the impact of nurse-led homeless healthcare in Warwickshire, UK. During January and February 2021, online semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 professionals including the mental and physical homeless health nurses (n=4), statutory health and local authority professionals (n=4), and voluntary and community sector professionals (n=9). Interviews were qualitatively analysed using inductive, reflexive thematic analysis. Data analysis identified three overarching themes related to the meaning, impact, and future development of nurse-led homeless healthcare: 1) Nurse-led homeless healthcare and health inequalities, 2) The multi-agency approach of nurse-led homeless healthcare, and 3) Future development of nurse-led homeless healthcare. The findings confirm the benefits of homeless healthcare in reducing health inequalities and promoting a more accessible, flexible, and person-centred approach to holistic care. Yet, prevailing organisational and system-level barriers were also identified as currently limiting the capacity, provision, and practicalities of delivering nurse-led homeless healthcare. Recommendations were identified with international relevance and included: (i) continued implementation of person-centred healthcare for homeless individuals, ii) strengthening of organisational collaboration and communication pathways to improve coordinated care, (iii) development of the managerial and structural aspects of provision, (iv) addressing limitations associated with scope and capacity to ensure that delivered healthcare is adequately intensive, (v) increased availability of clinical or therapeutic spaces, and (vi) implementation of long-term plans supported by evaluation and commissioning.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)2282-2291
    Number of pages10
    JournalHealth and Social Care in the Community
    Volume30
    Issue number6
    Early online date9 Mar 2022
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Nov 2022

    Bibliographical note

    This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.© 2022 The Authors. Health and Social Care in the Community published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

    Funder

    Funding for this study was provided by Warwickshire County Council

    Keywords

    • Homelessness
    • rough sleeping
    • community health care
    • health inequalities
    • access to healthcare

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