Delivering primary health care to homeless people: an evaluation of the integration, effectiveness and costs of different models: First Look Summary

There is a high prevalence of health problems among single people who are homeless, and since the 1980s specialist primary health care services have been developed in several locations across England for them. These include dedicated health centres and mobile health teams that visit hostels and day centres. There have been very few evaluations of these services, however, and their effectiveness is unknown. In 2010 the Department of Health reported a lack of systematic data on the use of health services by people who are homeless and costs, and a lack of evidence of the potential to improve primary care and health outcomes, and reduce secondary costs. This study aimed to address this knowledge gap.