Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of access to healthcare services for people facing homelessness.

The Department has considered the adequacy of access to healthcare services for people experiencing homelessness as part of its wider work on reducing health inequalities.

To ensure equitable access to healthcare services, the Department supported the development and implementation of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline 214 on Integrated health and social care for people experiencing homelessness, which sets out clear expectations on ways to improve access to, and engagement with, health and social care services for people experiencing homelessness. This guidance is avaiable at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng214/chapter/Recommendations#intermediate-care

As part of the recently published cross-Government Homelessness Strategy, A National Plan to End Homelessness, the Department has committed to improving access to mental health and substance misuse services and updating statutory guidance to strengthen safeguarding responsibilities for people experiencing homelessness. Further information on this strategy is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-national-plan-to-end-homelessness/a-national-plan-to-end-homelessness