Portsmouth rough sleepers are screened for infectious viruses while in emergency lockdown council accommodation

A specialist team of nurses from Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust (PHT) worked together with Portsmouth City Council, Public Health England and other peer support groups to offer vulnerable people screenings for infectious diseases such as Hepatitis and Tuberculosis.

The TB and Hepatology clinical nurse specialists from PHT were able to screen over 60 people across both sites last week from ordinarily hard to reach groups, such as homeless people, drug or alcohol users, vulnerable migrants and people who have been in prison.

Nuala Whitehead, specialist respiratory nurse at PHT, said: ‘Screening some of the most vulnerable people in our community is essential as they often have issues accessing hospital-based diagnostic services and so could have gone untreated indefinitely. We pulled this project together really quickly, and screened 61 people across the two days.

‘The clinical nurse specialists from the Hepatology and TB services have all been working on the wards during the peak of the Covid pandemic, but have worked incredibly hard to maintain these existing and essential services alongside this work.

‘The people that we tested were incredibly engaged and grateful for the opportunity to be screened and, as a result, a number are now able to access treatment.’

Councillor Matthew Winnington, cabinet member for health, wellbeing and social care at Portsmouth City Council, added: ‘Having vulnerable people staying in temporary accommodation presented us with a unique opportunity to engage in further health interventions. It’s incredibly important to diagnose these diseases as early as possible, not only to treat the individual but also to avoid onward transmission.

‘This activity complements the work of the Homeless Healthcare Team that work from Yew House, the Homeless Day Service, to help make healthcare, including mental health support, more accessible to our homeless residents. This team have been based in the temporary accommodation during the pandemic response.’

It comes after city council housing bosses say they have a ‘once in a lifetime chance to prevent homelessness’ with plans to keep people off the streets for good as lockdown eases.

The council is looking to bid for a slice of more than £120m aimed at providing homes for rough sleepers and ‘sofa surfers’ for the next 12 months, while a more permanent solution is found.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

Thank you for reading this story. The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on our advertisers and thus our revenues.

The News is more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism. You can subscribe here for unlimited access to Portsmouth news and information online.

Every subscription helps us continue providing trusted, local journalism and campaign on your behalf for our city.