Broadway’s Healthy Living Centre (HLC) opened in London in October 2001 with the support of a five year grant from the Big Lottery. The project was specifically designed to meet the health needs of rough sleepers, the street population and vulnerably housed people. It was also hoped that it would enable local health service stakeholders and a frontline service for homeless people to explore joint ways of working to meet the health care needs of this group.
HLCs, by means of a wide variety of innovative activities and services, deliver solutions to help reach public health objectives with regard to obesity; smoking; alcohol; sexual health and mental health. In addition, because of their location and locally targeted delivery (80% of HLC users live in areas of high poverty and deprivation), HLCs seek to address the causes of health inequalities, such as social exclusion, lack of access and socio-economic deprivation.
Activities are targeted to reduce social isolation and promote greater community involvement, more in line with a ‘first step’ approach rather than through the provision of directly health related services. Evaluation research of the Broadway HLC has recently been published. Measuring the Impact of Broadway’s Healthy Living Centre for Homeless People adds to the body of knowledge about the alcohol-related needs of rough sleepers.
Of service users seen by the HLC nurse:
- 233 (84%) had a recorded alcohol support need
- 72 (26%) had a recorded drugs support need
- 28 (10%) had a recorded mental health support need.
Service users were surveyed for the research, and were asked if they knew of other places to access health services and whether they were using these services instead of those provided at the Centre. Of those responding, more than two thirds of the knew where they could access a GP elsewhere. However 80% did not know where they would be able to access drug or alcohol services and nearly 60% did not know where they would access mental health support.
More info
- Big Lottery Fund Health Living Centres programme
- Addressing the Health Needs of Rough Sleepers (Homelessness Directorate)
- Wet Day Centres in the United Kingdom: A Research Report and Manual (King's Fund)
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