Anna Soubry
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health
Department of Health
Richmond House
79 Whitehall
London SW1A 2NS

26^th October 2012 

Dear Anna,

I would like to bring your attention to the findings of a recent report into homelessness and health by Dr Bethan Thomas of the Social and Spatial Inequalities Group at the University of Sheffield.

As the report shows, homeless men and women are amongst the highest risk groups in terms of health problems such as respiratory disease, HIV, heart attacks and health conditions associated with alcohol and drug dependency.

The “Homelessness Kills” report, commissioned by the charity Crisis, contains shocking statistics that place the average age of death at 47 and 43 for homeless men and women respectively- more than thirty years below the national average.

Yet homeless people are currently being failed as the result of limited access to appropriate health services and limited integration between services.

On behalf of my constituents I am, therefore, calling on you to take urgent concrete action to address this alarming example of health inequality.

Crisis have identified the importance of resolving longstanding problems in particular. For example, specialist substance abuse services are required so that high risk homeless cases, in particular those with dual diagnosis drug, alcohol and mental health needs, can be identified and treated without delay.

And there is a need for coherence, consistency and integration of services targeted at the homeless population.

As the Crisis report states, homeless admissions could be much better signposted to other relevant services. These include links with homelessness services that already do such important work addressing mental health and accommodation needs.

Crucially, all patients should be discharged properly and have secure accommodation when they leave hospital.

The structural changes to the NHS are an opportunity to address gaps in current health provision for homeless people and I’d like to call on the Government to make targets for reducing homeless health inequalities a priority in its outcomes framework for the NHS National Commissioning Board.

Health and Wellbeing Boards should include representatives from the housing and homelessness sectors who can advise on the links between health care and housing and homelessness, whilst the commissioning of specialist services for homeless people should be actively encouraged where appropriate.

Homelessness should also be considered as part of the Joint Strategic Needs assessment, whilst the Care Quality Commission should review the standard of healthcare that homeless people experience in order to make recommendations for improvement.

Reducing health inequalities is not only a statutory requirement for the Department, but a national concern for all of us.

In the light of this timely research from the Crisis charity, and the ongoing reforms to the NHS, I hope the Government will take every opportunity to seriously address the concerns raised by my constituents and which I very much share. I look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely,

Caroline Lucas MP, Brighton Pavilion

Read the ministerial response here