A HEALTH service for the homeless in Rochdale is in line for a prestigious award.
The town's Health Alliance Response Team (HART) is a finalist for a Health Service Journal (HSJ) award 2021 in the Best Healthcare Provider Partnership with the NHS category.
The gong will go to a company which has helped the NHS by providing excellent – and ideally pioneering – services, perhaps responding to a local need for increased capacity or for provision of a service which is not available through NHS local providers.
HART is a voluntary service and forms part of Rochdale Health Alliance’s portfolio of services.
It team was set up to care for the primary healthcare needs of people who are traditionally hard to reach or resistant to accessing health services.
It cares for people who access the soup kitchens and also live on local streets, parks and hostels.
Typical treatments are wound care, mental health screening, feet checks, medication reviews, giving prescriptions and blood pressure monitoring.
Service users are seen by the HART outreach nurses on a regular basis and they are supported and signposted to other services as needed.
Following the success of the voluntary service, the HART Outreach Service, which includes two nurses and a liaison officer, includes face to face advice and assessments and support is also offered in getting people registered with a GP practice if they wish to.
Flu vaccinations have been given by the HART team for the last three years and most recently Covid-19 vaccinations have given vital protection to vulnerable people.
Since the first coronavirus vaccination session held on March 3 some 44 service users have been vaccinated at hostels, bed and breakfasts and homeless support hubs. Vaccinations take place every two weeks at the support hub, the Drake Street soup kitchen which is already a focal point for this target community.
Middleton GP and Chair of Rochdale Health Alliance, Dr Mo Jiva said: “Because of transient lifestyles, homeless people are more susceptible to many health issues and that includes the harm from COVID-19.
"Unfortunately, there are increasing numbers of people in the borough who are homeless and live transient lifestyles who often also have substance misuse, mental health and dependency problems.
"These chaotic lifestyles mean that many rarely access health services at traditional venues like GP surgeries and so the HART service goes to them to meet their needs.”
Jackie Stansfield, head of clinical services at Rochdale Health Alliance, said: “The HART service can be credited for making a real improvement to the health and lives of many homeless people in Heywood Middleton and Rochdale and we are extremely proud of this achievement."
The HART team is up against eight other schemes in its category. The result was be announced in June.
