Manchester GPs Operate A Homeless-Friendly Practice

A GP practice in Manchester has become one of the first in the country to pledge to provide care for homeless people.

The Hopwood Medical Centre on Walton Street in Heywood has agreed to become Homeless-Friendly, which means that all patients receive quality treatment regardless of whether or not they have a permanent address. It comes after rough sleepers in some parts of the country reported they were being refused medical attention because they couldn’t prove residency.

The Homeless-Friendly programme encourages organisations to pledge to make their services completely accessible to those with no fixed address. The scheme offers training and support and invites participants to join together to signpost homeless people to the services that can help them out of poverty, joblessness and homelessness. The practice already helps ‘hidden homeless’ people, who aren’t on the streets but have no home of their own.

Hopwood GP Dr Zahir Mohammed said: “We do have homeless patients and those of no fixed abode who we have already started registering using our surgery address. These are people who have fallen on hard times who have financial difficulties and may have lost their jobs, had relationship issues or suffered from depression. Our door is always open to these patients.”

Health campaigner, Dr Chauhan, said: “When people are worried about debt, unemployment and paying the rent this can manifest itself in conditions such as stress, heart problems and alcohol dependency. Then there are the many patients doctors see who suffer chest problems because they live in damp, squalid conditions.”