P.A.T.H.S - Promoting Access To Health Services
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P.A.T.H.S. is a team of well trained volunteers, managed by a volunteer coordinator. The volunteers are matched to patients of Luther Street Medical Centre who express a desire to be accompanied to attend health related appointments.All the patients of the Medical Centre are either rough sleeping, experiencing homelessness or vulnerably housed.
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Year established |
2010 |
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Number of staff |
Paid Staff (FT equivalent)0.6, Volunteers 13 |
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Number of users |
60 - 70 so far |
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Is there a charge to users? |
No charge to users |
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What makes your project sustainable? |
Oxhop provide a newsletter to the kind base of local donors which keeps them up to date on activities. So far we have not noticed a reduction in donations despite the economic climate. |
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Innovation |
It is innovative because of the client group it serves, those experiencing homelessness. It promotes access to health services and solves part of the problem of patients not prioritising medically related appointments, it helps to build patients self esteem through volunteer contact, which may include advocacy and by giving the underlying message that those experiencing homelessness are important enough to society for the service to have come into being. There have been some fantastic success stories however it is often the case that with especially chaotic users it may take several attempts before they prioritise their healthcare appointments. Luther Street Medical Centre has a Patient Participation Group and we offer herbal medicine, acupuncture, dentistry, podiatry and psycho-social support alongside traditional yet tailored specialist homelessness GP services. Our charitable arm, OHMF, has two funds that the patients can apply to, the welfare fund that provides direct help for welfare needs such as essential travel, visiting relatives and small amounts of material help (emergency clothing and food, recharging electricity keys etc). The other is the Drayton Fund that helps people to undertake educational, artistic and recreational activities that support their rehabilitation in the community. A small donation by the patient is sought in most cases as we believe that this policy fosters ownership and responsibility through a reality based rather than idealistic approach (hand up rather than hand out). |
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Service |
Before starting the service, a snapshot survey with patients was done to see what they thought about the idea – it was overwhelmingly felt to be a good idea and would be used and of benefit. Some former patients are part of the volunteer team which receives a high level of ongoing training and support. The service is initially explained to patients by the doctors within the surgery, questions they have are then answered and they are then offered the opportunity of meeting up with a volunteer before their medically related appointment. Volunteers’ feedback patient comments on the service and we listen, the service now has now expanded into PATHS PLUS to include some social appointments that are deemed to aid the patients sense of well-being. |
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Science |
From the surgery records we knew that the rates of some our patients not attending medically related appointments was much higher than the average. P.A.T.H.S. has gone some way to addressing this and DNA rates within the homelessness population locally have fallen significantly. |
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Healing |
The volunteers promote patient psycho-social development by maintaining and nurturing an attitude of acceptance (of the person in their situation/environment) and respect – both of which are proven to promote ego development, thus nurturing the patients ability to take more control of their lives. P.A.T.H.S. volunteers, some previously homeless themselves, are often able to provide additional information and advice on appropriate other local services. The volunteers inform the patients of allied services within the surgery which they may not be aware of. Oxford has a wide variety of differing support agencies for people experiencing homelessness that now includes a brand new Crisis Skylight Centre opened in March 2012; the centre has a social enterprise café run by users alongside a multitude of practical and creative courses that are geared up to help people experiencing homelessness move forward with their lives and help themselves, volunteers also help to promote this empowering, user led service. |
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Contact details |
Richard Loham or Helen Wright P.A.T.H.S. t: 01865 79216/ 726008 |
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