Evaluation of the Homelessness Pathway

Implementation of service Enablers

• Systems in the Trust that facilitated reaching the target population

• Skills and expertise of the professionals working across the pathway

• Prioritising building a trusting relationship through consistency, demonstrating progress, taking action, and a non-judgemental approach.

• Providing a non-threatening way to re-engage with statutory services.

• Flexibility to adapt service in response to feedback.

• Collaboration between wide range of statutory and VCFSE partners

• Opportunity to build knowledge and awareness of homelessness more generally in healthcare staff Barriers and improvements

• Inappropriate referrals to the service were sometimes received, but recognition that this was often a symptom of the pressures on the overall system.

• Wider skill mix in the pathway team (i.e., OT, social worker) Impact on service users

• Offered people a window of opportunity to make changes with support in place.

• The pathway provided a holistic approach that facilitated treatment and access to health services across all needs. Importantly, it highlighted unmet needs that, once identified, could be addressed.

• The impact of the work went beyond helping with the most urgent and immediate needs. The ripple effect from this support was felt to extend to long-term sustainable impacts on the health and well-being of the individual.