Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the ability of homeless people to access mental health services; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt

The Ministerial Working Group on Homelessness report Addressing complex needs – improving services for vulnerable people (2015) highlighted the strong link between homelessness and poor mental health, and the high rates of mental health problems and substance misuse among the homeless population. Homeless people often have multiple health needs and the report showed how vulnerable people can become trapped in a cycle of homelessness because of their overlapping and complex problems.

Fairer access to all health services – including for vulnerable groups like homeless people – is at the heart of the health inequalities duties in the Health and Social Care Act 2012.

Improving access to primary care services for homeless people and providing services in non-clinical environments can also help to enable homeless people to receive the services they need. This includes self-referral to Improving Access to Psychological Therapies, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, for the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders.

We are sponsoring schemes that help local areas address these complex mental and physical health needs faced by homeless people and improve service access. These include the £8 million Help for Single Homeless programme, which includes projects to prevent rough sleeping, and help homeless young people with mental health issues, as well as the Department’s Homeless Hospital Discharge Fund and Homelessness Change/Platform for Life programmes. Public Health England is working with local authorities to help them understand better the mental health needs of homeless people.