{"title":"Exploring ways to improve healthcare service access for people experiencing homelessness in Manchester, UK.","authors":"Alya Howard, Amanda Low, Natasha Howard","doi":"10.1093/heapro/daaf108","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Homelessness is a significant social issue in the UK, affecting the health and life chances of ∼320 000 people annually. This study aims to explore primary healthcare provision from the perspectives of people experiencing homelessness (PEH) in the Greater Manchester area. We conducted a qualitative multimethod study, including unstructured observations and semistructured interviews with 20 PEH across four homelessness day facilities in Greater Manchester during April-May 2023 and analysed data thematically using inductive coding. We generated five inductive themes consisting of PEH fears around communication, challenges navigating the health system, insufficient service signposting, travel as a barrier to healthcare access, and the crucial importance of outreach. The findings indicate that general practitioners can improve communication approaches, clarify pathways to care for PEH, and increase outreach services where feasible to help ensure PEH are better able to access needed services.</p>","PeriodicalId":54256,"journal":{"name":"Health Promotion International","volume":"40 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12241852/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Health Promotion International","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daaf108","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"HEALTH POLICY & SERVICES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Homelessness is a significant social issue in the UK, affecting the health and life chances of ∼320 000 people annually. This study aims to explore primary healthcare provision from the perspectives of people experiencing homelessness (PEH) in the Greater Manchester area. We conducted a qualitative multimethod study, including unstructured observations and semistructured interviews with 20 PEH across four homelessness day facilities in Greater Manchester during April-May 2023 and analysed data thematically using inductive coding. We generated five inductive themes consisting of PEH fears around communication, challenges navigating the health system, insufficient service signposting, travel as a barrier to healthcare access, and the crucial importance of outreach. The findings indicate that general practitioners can improve communication approaches, clarify pathways to care for PEH, and increase outreach services where feasible to help ensure PEH are better able to access needed services.
期刊介绍:
Health Promotion International contains refereed original articles, reviews, and debate articles on major themes and innovations in the health promotion field. In line with the remits of the series of global conferences on health promotion the journal expressly invites contributions from sectors beyond health. These may include education, employment, government, the media, industry, environmental agencies, and community networks. As the thought journal of the international health promotion movement we seek in particular theoretical, methodological and activist advances to the field. Thus, the journal provides a unique focal point for articles of high quality that describe not only theories and concepts, research projects and policy formulation, but also planned and spontaneous activities, organizational change, as well as social and environmental development.