Primary care access for homeless people: identifying best practice using Merchants Quay Ireland as a model of primary care provision

摘要

‘Specialist Scheme’ models of health care provision have been set up in orderudto facilitate better access to health care for marginalised groups. One suchudscheme operates at Merchants Quay Ireland which aims to address the healthudcare access needs of homeless people. Through the utilization of one-to-oneudinterviews with service users, health care staff and policy makers, this studyudassesses the model in terms of (a) how and whether the special schemeudaddresses the primary health care needs of homeless people and (b) the gapsudin service provision that exist in both the special scheme service and broaderudmainstream services.udFindings demonstrate that access to primary health care is greatly enhancedudas a result of the ‘Specialist Scheme’. However gaps in services were foundudto persist at the level of primary and secondary care and in particular forudclients who present with complex needs. Issues around discharge planningudand follow-on care continue to present challenges for the provision of primaryudcare to homeless people. Study findings are used to identify best practice inudprimary care access for homeless people in the context of the NationaludPrimary Care Strategy.