New mobile health hub to help Peterborough homeless people

A mobile hub has been set up to give homeless people better access to a GP.

The Light Project Peterborough (LPP) charity has worked with the NHS to create the service for the city's most vulnerable at its central headquarters.

NHS Charities Together gave £100,000 to buy and equip the van and Peterborough City Council and the local Integrated Care System (ICS) will help to run it.

Dr Ruth Beesley, a GP who will help at the site, said: "We have to meet people where their needs are."

The van will be up and running over the next few weeks and be stationed at LPP's Garden House headquarters on Gravel Walk. It will be staffed five days a week.

The homeless charity provides a daytime centre for the community and offers hot meals and advice. It also works closely with the local council and other charities to provide housing solutions.

Steven Pettican, chief executive of LPP, said a plan for the hub formulated a couple of years ago.

He said: "I recognised there wasn't enough investment in health services for the homeless community in Peterborough and started a conversation with senior health colleagues to ask, should there be a little bit more?"

Dr Beesley is the main GP at LPP and currently works at the charity once a week. She will be part of the staff working on the new hub.

"Peterborough has a big homeless population and has significant health needs. A lot live with significant pain," she said.

"Some have often had traumatic injuries which have not been managed, such as broken bones and back problems.

"Getting to a hospital can be quite a challenge."

Roy, 65, was homeless and was helped by LPP. He now gives back and is part of its volunteering team.

"We know the hotspots - the empty shop fronts, and find a lot of people in places like that," he said.

"We normally have the doctors and nurses, but in there [mobile hub] they have a bed so people can lie down."

The hub is set to provide health assessments and offer referrals to other services. Typical treatments will include dry blood spot testing, vaccinations, basic eye tests and minor medical help such as wound dressing and infection treatment.

It will be staffed by a mixture of healthcare workers, two GPs, a nurse and a podiatrist.

Mr Pettican said the charity had up to 600 people coming through its doors each year.

"There won't be any lack of engagement in terms of people engaging with the extra health services that are here for them," he said.

Dayana, 35, is originally from Bulgaria. She lost her husband and fell on hard times, including sleeping in a tent, before she sought help from the charity.

She was seen by Dr Beesley during her weekly visits to LPP and it provided her with healthcare assistance, which she said helped her because she was a "bit scared to go to the doctors".

Those who visit the health hub and are not registered with a GP surgery will be invited to register with Boroughbury Medical Centre, off the Lincoln Road on Craig Street.

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