RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Putting your HAT on
JF Clinical Medicine
JO Clin Med
FD Royal College of Physicians
SP 174
OP 176
DO 10.7861/clinmed.2022-0024
VO 22
IS 2
A1 Bruce Taylor
A1 Pippa Medcalf
YR 2022
UL http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/22/2/174.abstract
AB One in three deaths of people who are homeless are preventable. The morbidity and mortality of people who are homeless is shocking. With people who are homeless having a higher rate of emergency department attendance and hospital admission compared with the general population, we have a unique opportunity to change their health and their life.This led to the design and implementation of the Homeless Assessment Tool (HAT) at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The HAT is an opportunistic prompt to assist doctors in providing the best care for patients who are homeless upon (or during) hospital admission.Teaching sessions on the health of people who are homeless and the HAT were given to doctors and nurses. Feedback commended the HAT's comprehensiveness, ease of use, and utility in assessing and managing a patient who is homeless.As such, the HAT is accepted as a standard by the Faculty for Homeless and Inclusion Health, further demonstrating its merits in assessing patients who are homeless.