Health Services: Homelessness

(asked on 1st September 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many integrated care boards have made specific reference to (a) homelessness and (b) rough sleeping populations in their localised strategy.


Answered by
Neil O'Brien Portrait
Neil O'Brien
This question was answered on 11th September 2023

Joint Forward Plans (JFPs) are developed by integrated care boards (ICBs) and their partner National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts as their local plans for delivering healthcare services in their local area. Under the Health and Care Act 2022, JFPs are not assured nationally and so this information is not held centrally.

The Health and Care Act 2022 requires ICBs to address in their JFP how they will discharge their general statutory duties, including their duty to reduce health inequalities, which is outlined in section 14Z35 of the Act.

NHS England supports ICBs to address health inequalities through the Core20PLUS5 approach, which includes people experiencing homelessness. More information on Core20PLUS5 is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/about/equality/equality-hub/national-healthcare-inequalities-improvement-programme/core20plus5/

NHS England has issued guidance to ICBs on developing their JFPs, including access to support on addressing health inequalities. Therefore, every JFP should address tackling health inequalities, including for those experiencing homelessness, either directly or by reference to an existing agreed local strategy. More information on JFPs is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/joint-forward-plan/

JFPs can be found on ICB websites, and should be considered alongside local joint health and wellbeing strategies produced by the Health and Wellbeing Board and integrated care strategies developed by the integrated care partnership. Guidance on the preparation of integrated care strategies prepared by the Department highlights the importance of addressing the needs of inclusion health groups, and more information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-the-preparation-of-integrated-care-strategies/guidance-on-the-preparation-of-integrated-care-strategies

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