Homeless or rough sleeping people in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole are to be offered care when they are discharged from hospital.

Government funding of £640,000 is now available to give them support to avoid them being re-admitted to emergency care.

Health and Social care partners will work to ensure health care, accommodation and clinical needs are met for the patients.

BCP Council is working with partners in the Health Action Group – which includes BCP Council Housing, Adult Social Care and Drug & Alcohol Commissioning services, Public Health, CCG, Dorset Healthcare and University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust. The Health Action Group is involved in the Homeless Care Pathway scheme, where health and social care teams work closely to identify homeless residents once they are admitted to emergency care and provides them with support and care both during their stay and when they are back out in the community.

The Homeless Care Pathway is currently running as a pilot scheme at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital. The new funding will mean that this service will be extended to both Bournemouth and Poole hospitals, offering longer hours to meet the needs of those in emergency situations. The provision will also be offered in community hospitals where required. This will ensure that all homeless people will be offered support in their day-to-day clinical and social care needs after discharge from emergency care across the BCP Council area.

Cllr Hazel Allen, lead member for Homelessness said: “We are committed to working with our partners to ensure equitable access to health, social care and housing services for our homeless population. We hope that our partnership working will help to break the cycle of people returning to the streets, supporting them into secure and long term accommodation.”

There will be longer term health support out in the community such as the central Homeless Inclusion Health Centre in Bournemouth. This ‘Health Hub’ will offer outreach services across the conurbation as well as further developing a multi-disciplinary team with the benefit of staff working closely together to provide a wide range of health support for individuals who are homeless in one central location.