Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To explore the possibility that homeless people use the accident and emergency (A&E) department as a substitute for primary care and to quantify the role of alcohol abuse in their attendances. METHODS: The study period lasted six months. Attendances of all patients registering with "No fixed abode" as their address were analysed from the A&E notes. Information gathered included details of the presenting complaint, general practitioner (GP) registration, and alcohol involvement in the presentation. RESULTS: 135 homeless patients attended the department 233 times; 91% of patients were male with an average age of 40 years; 46% of attendances were during office hours; 81.5% of presentations were for minor problems; 65.2% of patients had co-existing medical problems, with 14.8% having a chronic alcohol problem; 23.7% of patients gave details of their GP and the remainder were either not registered or did not know their GP registration status; 29.6% of attendances directly involved alcohol and another 10.3% were requests for inpatient or outpatient alcohol detoxification; 42.1% of patients questioned said they were aware of the medical facilities available to homeless people in the community; 52.6% of those questioned said they preferred being seen in the A&E department when ill, with 23.7% preferring GP treatment and 10.5% attending community homeless clinics. CONCLUSIONS: The local homeless population may be using the A&E department as a substitute for primary care even in the presence of homeless healthcare facilities in the community. Heightened awareness of these facilities may improve their uptake. Alcohol plays a large role in homeless people seeking medical help in the A&E department. More accessible community facilities for dealing with this problem in this patient group are needed.
Full text
PDF
Images in this article
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Black M. E., Scheuer M. A., Victor C., Benzeval M., Gill M., Judge K. Utilisation by homeless people of acute hospital services in London. BMJ. 1991 Oct 19;303(6808):958–961. doi: 10.1136/bmj.303.6808.958. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Castaneda R., Lifshutz H., Galanter M., Franco H. Age at onset of alcoholism as a predictor of homelessness and drinking severity. J Addict Dis. 1993;12(1):65–77. doi: 10.1300/J069v12n01_06. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Greenblatt M., Robertson M. J. Life-styles, adaptive strategies, and sexual behaviors of homeless adolescents. Hosp Community Psychiatry. 1993 Dec;44(12):1177–1180. doi: 10.1176/ps.44.12.1177. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Reuler J. B., Balazs J. R. Portable medical record for the homeless mentally ill. BMJ. 1991 Aug 24;303(6800):446–446. doi: 10.1136/bmj.303.6800.446. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Scott J. Homelessness and mental illness. Br J Psychiatry. 1993 Mar;162:314–324. doi: 10.1192/bjp.162.3.314. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Victor C. R. Health status of the temporarily homeless population and residents of North West Thames region. BMJ. 1992 Aug 15;305(6850):387–391. doi: 10.1136/bmj.305.6850.387. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Welte J. W., Barnes G. M. Drinking among homeless and marginally housed adults in New York State. J Stud Alcohol. 1992 Jul;53(4):303–315. doi: 10.15288/jsa.1992.53.303. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]