BU Research Blog

Homelessness in the UK is a massive issue, with numbers increasing year by year. The South West region had the third highest number of rough sleepers in England in 2018.  Bournemouth is within the top 24 local authorities for highest numbers of homeless individuals.

There are big health inequalities for people who are homeless. The mean age of death for a woman living on the streets is 43 years and for a man 45 years.  This is almost half of the mean life expectancy of those living in homes. Yet people who are homeless, especially those living on the streets, find it incredibly difficult to navigate and access health and social care.

Drs Vanessa Heaslip, Sue Green, Bibha Simkhada (Department of Nursing Science) and Huseyin Dogan (SciTech) have been awarded a grant by the Burdett Trust for Nursing to identify potential technological solutions to promote self-care of people sleeping rough.  They aim to develop a freely available app, enabling navigation and access to resources to manage complex health and social care needs. The team from Bournemouth University will be working in partnership with a local GP from Medicine Providence Surgery, Street Support, Big Issue and Dorset Healthcare NHS Trust on this project.

If you would like any further information – please contact the lead researcher Dr Vanessa Heaslip on vheaslip@bournemouth.ac.uk or 01202 961774