Our impact
Working together is infinitely better than working apart. Together we reduce demand for statutory services and keep people safe at home. Here’s what the Keep Well Collaborative have been up to:
The COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak presents specific risks to homeless communities
People who experience homelessness or who sleep rough already have a high risk of long-term health conditions compounded by a lack of nutrition, access to hygiene facilities and drug and alcohol misuse, often struggling to access healthcare services which contributes to significant health inequalities.
The Government’s ‘delay’ methodology in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic is flawed for this cohort (as they cannot self-isolate) and is likely to remain so given the advice on social distancing for vulnerable people regardless of symptoms. As a community therefore they are at significant risk.
We are pleased to be able to share with you a collation of feedback and online resources from homelessness services to prompt greater cross-boundary and organisational collaboration. It is not intended to be prescriptive or exhaustive, but instead encourage debate, discussion and greater combined action to enable better support to local people through this pandemic who are experiencing homelessness. Please download a summary of the briefing here, or a more detailed version here.
Vivid Wellbeing Services
Brokered two separate collaborations between Solent NHS Trust:Vivid and Southern Health NHS Trust:Winchester City Council to develop Wellbeing Services which keep people safe at home.
Winchester’s service is currently being recruited to, but VIVID’s Wellbeing Service, run in partnership with Solent NHS Trust, launched in December 2018 and was a finalist in the national Housing Heroes Awards 2019. With a caseload of around 30 residents at any one time, the Wellbeing Service has already helped turn lives around and in just one case saved the NHS £17,000 a year through reduced GP appointments and repeat calls to 111 and 999 services. Vivid has now gone on to appoint two volunteer counsellors and introduced mental health champions into their contact centre to provide dedicated support to customers with mental health issues. Find out more about Vivid’s Wellbeing Service here.
Hampshire & Isle of Wight Peer Support Network
We Chair the Steering Group to oversee the development of a HIOW wide Peer Support Network and facilitate the extension of peer support into housing to increase pre-primary support and build resilience within communities.
“Unless we understand each other’s culture and language we will never deliver the health services, housing and support that people need.”
Isle of Wight Clinical Commissioner, NHS
Key Worker housing provision
Facilitate round table debate of cross-sector regional leaders to explore options and solutions for the provision of Key Worker housing which supports the recruitment and retention of doctors, nurses and care workers.
Helping communities flourish with Radian
Working with our partners Radian, Southern Health and the Society of St James, we’ve brokered an initial pipeline of five permanent homes around a community café to improve inpatient flow in acute and rehab facilities – reducing the need for out of area placements – with the first resident moving into their new home in early October 2019. Radian also champions thriving communities with a range of activities including social prescribing, awarding winning community cafés and support for local communities with activities which include the Mansbridge allotment project.
Connecting mental health services with housing
We’ve facilitated training and upskilling of over 30 local authority and housing association neighbourhood staff in Mental Health First Aid and Connect 5 principles to help them provide support to vulnerable residents experiencing mental ill health but who do not reach the threshold for support by statutory services.
We have also worked collaboratively with the newly launched Mental Health specialism within the 111 service ensuring someone’s home situation is used as a lens to wellbeing, and that people experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness get the support around their housing needs.
“I’ve learnt so much about the importance of listening to the public, the person, the user, the resident.”
Chair, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Mental Health Alliance
Improving homelessness services in Portsmouth
We bring key stakeholders together to take collaborative action to improve the healthcare for people experiencing homelessness, increasing awareness of the new statutory Duty to Refer for NHS services. Our work with Portsmouth City Council’s Public Health team contributed to their successful collaborative bid accepted by Public Health England to fund dedicated mental health services to people experiencing homelessness in the City. Here’s a copy of our briefing on the Duty to Refer for HACT and HealthWatch England.
Developed local Primary Care Networks
Work with Public Health, Clinical Commissioning Groups, GPs and regional and local authority housing providers to overlay health and housing data across neighbourhoods to build local capacity and collaborative action to support the development of local Primary Care Networks.