Mobile GP commenced in early 2008. Based on an underlying philosophy where the individual is respected regardless of background we use an innovative model to provide healthcare to homeless and marginalised people. We work in collaboration with the social welfare, mental health and drug rehabilitation agencies.
Mobile GP started with the drop in centre model now known as "Drop In by Mobile GP". In this model we bring all the necessary equipment to the drop in centre to set up a General Practice clinic. This allows homeless and marginalised people to see us within an environment that is familiar to them
As people move into transitional housing they tend to continue to require the same healthcare and we extended the drop in centre model to transitional accommodation services for homeless people. This service is now known as "Shelter by Mobile GP".
Many people who are homeless have drug and alcohol problems and people with drug and alcohol problems are faced with many of the same issues as homeless people as far as their health is concerned and their ability to access healthcare facilities. To facilitate healthcare for people with drug and alcohol problems we have extended the service into providing mobile General Practice clinic at Drug and Alcohol Therapeutic Communities in our program known as "Communities by Mobile GP"
Using this model of the mobile General Practice we have rapidly become the largest provider of healthcare to homeless and marginalised people in the Perth metropolitan region.
Homeless and marginalised people often experience mental health issues. "Mental Health by Mobile GP" was started to better enable our team to better enable our team to deal with these issues.
When a homeless person is housed they face many of the same health issues and barriers to access health care that they faced while homeless. In October 2011 we will be start "Transitions by Mobile GP". This fixed location clinic with more structure will enable these vulnerably housed people to have their health needs addressed.
Youth are a vital part of our community. Unfortunately more than 40% of homeless people are Youth. "Youth by Mobile GP" aims to deal with the issues confronting homeless youth and hopefully assist them to get out of the cycle of homelessness before it becomes a long term issue for them.
This is only the beginning. Over the coming months to years we hope to expand further.
Our aim is to have-
Our clinical work is funded in part by Medicare. Despite recent amendments, this system is still designed to provide higher payments for multiple short consultations than it does for long consultations. Long consultions are required to meet the needs of our patients and deal with the multiple health issues facing them in order to help them break free from the cycle of homelessness. The end result is that the total of Medicare payments we receive is much lower than a regular General Practice and inadequate to cover the costs of operating the service. So far we have attained our achievements through the tireless work of our staff, donations from the public and a one-off grant from the Western Australian Department of Health.
In the future we hope to-
It is too easy for us to walk past the homeless person pretending that they do not exist. It would come as a shock to most people to realise that there are approximately 13000 people who are homeless in Perth on any one night.
For the homeless or marginalised person there are many barriers to seeking out healthcare.
The two biggest barriers we have come across are:
To overcome these barriers it is vitally important that we recognise that a homeless person is exactly that - a person. They just happen to be homeless. Like all people recognition of our individual needs and desires are important. It is easy to turn a blind eye and pretend that the person doesn’t exist and yet all they may want is a shoulder to cry on or someone to help solve a practical problem.
To provide healthcare to homeless and marginalised people we work in collaboration with other agencies that work with these groups. This enables us to go to places where homeless and marginalised people feel comfortable. We go to the homeless and marginalised person rather than wait for them to come to us.
The person is seen regardless of background and all services are provided at no cost to the homeless or marginalised person.
A homeless person has an expected lifespan of 44.5 years.
Australia has an appalling track record when it comes to tracking the health care of homeless people.
Research from Germany showed that the average lifespan of a homeless person was 44.5 years. This compares with a lifespan of 80 years for the average Australian. Danish research showed that homeless men are 2.8 times as likely to die and homeless women are 5.6 more likely to die from natural causes than their mainstream counterparts and 14.6 times more likely to die from unintentional injury. The most common problems seen amongst homeless people are mental disorders, alcohol and drug use, injuries, skin infections and infestations, poor foot and mouth care, poor compliance with medications and blood- borne viruses (hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV). Mobile GP recognises that health problems do not occur separately to social problems and has the dual aim of improving the health of people while they are homeless and breaking the cycle of homelessness.