Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-06-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the cost of rough sleeping to the NHS.

Jane Ellison

According to the last Departmental estimate, homeless people – primarily rough sleepers and those living in hostels – cost National Health Service hospitals at least £85 million a year, based on around 40,500 people living in hostels (Healthcare for Single Homeless People (2010).

Homeless people consume around four times more acute hospital services than the general population. These extra costs arise from the severity of their health conditions and because they are more likely to be admitted as emergency admissions.

We have made £40 million available through the Homelessness Change/Platform for Life programme to provide tailored hostel accommodation to improve the physical and mental health outcomes of rough sleepers and provide stable, transitional, shared accommodation for young people who are homeless or in insecure housing. We have also encouraged local areas to develop and improve hospital discharge arrangements for people who are homeless through the £10 million Homeless Hospital Discharge Fund, including by more effective multi-agency working.