Homeless patients’ experience of GP service in an outreach setting
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An exploration of homeless patients’ experience of General Practice care in an outreach setting.
IRAS ID
225417
Contact name
Fiona Cuthill
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Edinburgh
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
Homelessness continues to affect increasing numbers of individuals and families throughout the UK and, consequently, the health needs of the homeless continue to be recognised as part of the broader goal to reduce health inequalities. Homeless people often experience more severe and complex needs than those in the housed population. For those who are chronically homeless, access to the more traditional general practice model can be challenging.
GP outreach within community organisations has been proposed as a model of care to improve access and engagement with health care in under-served groups across a variety of disciplines. There is a lack of studies looking specifically at general practice (GP) outreach to homeless populations.
This project will seek to use qualitative research methodologies to explore homeless patients’ experience of GP care in an outreach setting in two centres in the UK. In addition, the project will explore the experiences of staff working at the outreach setting in engaging homeless people with GP outreach services.
The study will take the form of a qualitative research study and is estimated to take up to a period of 6 months. The study will use two different methods of data collection; 1) semi-structured interviews with up to 20 homeless patients to explore their experiences of accessing the GP outreach service across two study sites (up to 10 interviews per site); and, 2) focus groups will be conducted with staff working at each outreach setting (one focus group in each of the two settings).
REC name
East of England - Essex Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/EE/0202
Date of REC Opinion
18 May 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion