Manchester GPs Rally Round To Help Homeless Patients

Homeless patients are being urged to seek treatment at ten GP practices in Greater Manchester rather than hospital A&E departments.

Contrary to popular belief, patients do not need identification or proof of address be seen by a GP, but some homeless people claim they have been turned away. So practices in Manchester, Oldham, Bury, Bolton and Rochdale have now signed up to a new “homeless-friendly” scheme.

The scheme, which was set up by Dr Zahid Chauhan at social enterprise Beacon GP Care, has also handed survival kits, containing blankets, bottled water, sleeping bags and a list of surgeries, to rough sleepers. Dr Chauhan said without access to a doctor, homeless people were not seeking help until they were in an “emergency situation”. “I have seen a woman who had a minor leg infection – all she needed was a course of antibiotics, but she struggled for weeks and weeks,” he said.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, who has pledged to end rough sleeping in the region by 2020, said the scheme could save the NHS money as it was “cheaper for somebody to wander into a practice” than go to hospital. “It makes sense to give people that care when they need it, rather than letting it become a much greater problem that might end up costing us all more,” he added.

Michael Moores, who sleeps in an empty building, said it “would help”. Mr Moores, from Rochdale, said he ran into difficulties when he had a fall and was told at the local hospital that he should have gone to Bury instead. “They said ‘why didn’t you go to Fairfield?'” he said.

“I haven’t got the money to get to Fairfield, so I didn’t end up doing anything about it.” He said the new scheme was a good idea as it allowed people who “haven’t got any access” to a doctor to “actually go in and see one”.