York Medical Group has broken down barriers for people living with homelessess in York to access healthcare.

Nurse Ann Warriner and her team have been developing new ways for homeless people in York to access medical treatment, vaccinations and healthcare protection.

The practice discovered that the only way to provide care to these patients was to reach out to them themselves. 

The practice now administers GP and nursing care to 280 homeless patients as well as others in vulnerable accommodation, and is running a three-hour homeless clinic at a York hostel every fortnight.

Ann explained: "Often, people who are living with homelessness are fearful of coming to see their GP.

"They can’t use digital to communicate, as they may not have a phone, and certainly not a smart phone. Many have difficulty with reading or writing so they can’t always read the instructions on medication

"They struggle with time management needed to manage medication and a lot of them have issues with drugs or alcohol.

"Not having a home address has, in the past, meant they are unable to register with a GP Practice.

“We soon realised there was a vicious circle. So we allowed people to put the practice down as their address and they could come to us for General Practice care."

Ann, who has extensive knowledge in wound care as she used to be a tissue viability nurse, found that many homeless patients sustained wounds that need regular attention due to their lifestyle.

One man, who was self-managing his wound on a daily basis, was able to pick up the dressings from the practice every two days.

This meant he didn’t have to carry around hundreds of pounds worth of treatment dressings with the risk of losing them.

Ann added: "He had nowhere to keep them as he was homeless. So we bagged them up and he collected them every couple of days.

"We started calling them his 'party bags', and the receptionists became really fond of him and very involved in his care handing him his bags."

Polly Smith, Head of Nursing and Clinical Services, managed to acquire funding from the Better Care Fund and the Enhanced Service contract in York, to help set up the hostel clinics and provide an out reach vaccination service.

Polly said: "The hostel staff can make the introductions, give me their back-story so I can understand the patients better. Sometimes they even trawl the city to find the patients, and bring them to me. 

"They’ll take them for blood tests, xrays, smear tests, vaccines and even dental care. It really is a team effort. I’ve even had a needle phobic hostel staff member have her flu vaccination with one of the younger patients, to support and encourage her to have her flu jab.

"It doesn’t happen overnight but it’s about relationship building. I realised only recently that one patient couldn’t read when he asked me to read a letter he’d received from the hospital. If he hadn’t known me well, he just wouldn’t have told me."