Riverside - Health MOT for the homeless

18 November 2009

Some of London’s homeless men were offered the opportunity for a unique health MOT thanks to a partnership between several of the capital’s leading health and social care providers.
The Health MOT Week (16-20 November) was organised by ECHG’s King Georges Hostel in Westminster in partnership with Turning Point, Westminster City Council, Westminster PCT and the TB Find and Treat Team.

The Week included a wide range of public health information and support including: screening for diseases TB, HIV and Hepatitis, flu jabs, information on stopping smoking, healthy eating and exercise.

King Georges is a 68-bed mens’ hostel, of whom more than half are drug users. ECHG’s Support Manager, Stephen Davies, says while the hostel has run healthy living activities and screening programmes in this past, this is the first time health interventions have been provided in one go, on its own doorstep.

“These are hard to reach groups. Many of the hostel residents lead fairly chaotic lives; more than half are injecting drug users. They are unlikely to access mainstream health services through conventional settings – for example through their local GP practice.

“This group is at greater risk developing conditions like TB, due to poor nutrition and weakened immune systems. A survey by Crisis found that the incidence of TB amongst homeless men was 25 times the national average. So it’s really important to identify and treat these sorts of conditions early. But it’s equally important that we provide positive information and advice about living healthier lives as well,” he said.

Andy Wooldridge, Turning Point Senior Service Manager, says that the idea is to make the week as much fun as possible.

“We tried to make the week a real talking point, to make it something that everyone wanted to be part of. We have a big chart up listing who had and hadn’t participated in each health check.

We also handed out bags of fruit and incentivised residents by offering them a financial reward for completing as many checks as possible."