Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to encourage homeless people to be screened for tuberculosis.

Jane Ellison

The Collaborative Tuberculosis (TB) Strategy for England 2015-2020 was launched in January 2015[1]. It lays out 10 key ‘areas for actions’ which include improving TB awareness raising, TB case finding (screening) and treatment for under-served populations such as the homeless; which are being delivered across England by seven TB Control Boards supported by a national TB team.

These actions are underpinned by collaborative working between third sector organisations, local authorities, Public Health England and the National Health Service. The work focuses on targeted awareness-raising of symptoms and curability of TB; the range of local health and care services; and eligibility for free treatment. Specific and targeted outreach interventions for under-served populations (informed by proven models such as ‘Find and Treat’ in London) include specific services for active case finding for pulmonary TB among homeless people, use of mobile X-ray units (MXUs) with incentives for people to have chest X-rays, enhanced case management and return to service interventions to prevent loss to follow up.

[1]Public Health England. Collaborative Tuberculosis Strategy for England 2015 to 2020 [Internet]. 2015. Available from:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/collaborative-tuberculosis-strategy-for-england

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