Making it matter: Improving the health of young homeless people

The report ‘Making it Matter: Improving the Health of Young Homeless People’ produced by homelessness charity Depaul UK in partnership with AstraZeneca, shows that young homeless people experience significantly poorer health than their peers. Interviews carried out with 380 homeless and non-homeless young people reveal that where more than 37% of homeless young people had visited A&E (Accident and Emergency) in the last year, just 14% of non-homeless had gone themselves. More than 27% of homeless young people had been admitted to hospital in the same timescale, whereas just 6% of those who were not homeless had been. The reform of the health and social care system, particularly the introduction in 2013 of the Public Health Outcomes Framework and Health and Wellbeing Boards, offers an opportunity to afford greater priority to the issue of homelessness and it is
important that this is acted upon.