Improving palliative care and support for people experiencing homelessness

1: Bringing together expertise on palliative care for people experiencing homelessness

Supporting people experiencing homelessness who may have palliative care needs is complex, often requiring input from different experts. Across the UK, the number of projects and initiatives aiming to improve palliative care and support for people experiencing homelessness is increasing. But until recently, there was no central place for people to come together and share learnings, challenges and best practice.

I was awarded a grant from the National Institute for Health Research to create a forum of this kind and, in June 2022, we held our first session. The National Palliative Care and Homelessness ECHO Network now attracts attendees from a wide variety of backgrounds including homelessness staff, palliative care staff, inclusion health staff, prison staff and people from local councils. The network meets on the second Tuesday of every month from 2-3.00pm. Find out more or join the network by emailing homelesspalliativecare@mariecurie.org.uk  

2: Training and resources to support local palliative care and homelessness support

As well as the national network, we've developed a free online platform full of resources to help people set up communities of practice in their local area. We've partnered with Pathway, UCL, NHS England and the Oak Foundation to build the platform, and it contains information and videos about a range of topics related to homelessness, health and palliative care, and is fully CPD accredited.

Our first group of facilitators are now about to begin their own local communities of practice around the UK. This is an exciting step forward in bringing together the wide range of professionals needed to provide high quality care and support for people experiencing homelessness towards the end of their lives.

We're running another round of training on becoming a facilitator, on 11 November 2022 and 8 December 2022. Interested? Please register by filling in this form  , or email homelesspalliativecare@mariecurie.org.uk   for more information.

3: Research into palliative care for people with unsettled immigration status experiencing homelessness

People experiencing homelessness are a vulnerable group whose health is often poor. For people living in homeless hostels, hostel staff often play a key role in supporting them towards the end of their lives, but there can be barriers to accessing hostel accommodation, including immigration status. So we're researching the experiences of people who are homeless, very unwell but can't access hostel accommodation due to their immigration status and restrictions to their entitlements. As part of this project, we're conducting a UK-wide online survey   of hospice staff to hear their experiences of supporting people in this situation. If you have stories or experiences to share, we'd love to hear them.

Earlier this year, I spoke in more detail at the Marie Curie Research Conference with Dr Caroline Shulman of Pathway and University College London about the work we're doing on palliative care and homelessness. You can watch the video here...