Nearly one in three homeless deaths are due to causes amenable to timely and effective healthcare.

There is a large homeless population in Southend. In the last financial year 313 local people were classed as long-term rough sleepers.  The local homeless charity HARP helped 1,221 homeless people in 2020.

The vision is to reduce health inequalities for rough sleepers. To support them in not just recovering from life on the streets, but also to help them by offering an integrated, multi-disciplinary approach.

How is this different? The approach is truly collaborative building relationships between physical and mental health, primary and specialist care and health and social care, supporting  ‘triple integration’ ambitions in the NHS Long Term Plan.

The service started in in 2020 on the back of some collaborative work with the council at the local winter night shelters during the winter of 2019.