I believe that everyone should have equal access to medical care and treatment. Often, homeless people have a more limited access to healthcare yet are more likely to attend A&E or be admitted to hospital than the general population. Therefore, I welcome the Government's announcement of a £55 million fund to improve the health of homeless people over the next two years. This money will go towards the Homeless Change project which will provide upgraded hostel accommodation to improve physical and mental health outcomes and help reduce A&E attendances in rough sleepers as well as the Platform for Life project which will create low-rent shared accommodation for young people who are struggling to hold down a job. I will be attending a parliamentary reception next month to discuss this project. I am also a supporter of Julia House, Genesis Trust, and many other local charities that address these issues, and attend their events to help tackle the problem.
I understand that Public Health England supports local authorities to understand the effectiveness of their local system for homeless people, including the access to and quality of such care. I know that the NHS works in conjunction with a number of partner organisations in order to provide better care for patients and reduce pressure on some NHS services. You may be interested to learn of 'Find & Treat', which is a London-based NHS initiative that uses a mobile x-ray unit to screen almost 10,000 homeless people and drug users a year for active TB and also supports treatment compliance.
Be assured that it is a Government priority to tackle health inequalities and legal duties are imposed on commissioners to take this into consideration across the public health and health care system.