Melbourne CBD Health and Homelessness Protocol

Working together across the health, homelessness and welfare sector.

What is the CBD Homelessness Health Access Protocol?

The ‘Protocol’ is a set of guidelines designed by key health, homelessness and welfare agencies in the Melbourne Central Business District (CBD). It seeks to make it easier for people experiencing homelessness to access health services, by addressing the way that workers in the health, homelessness and welfare sector work together.
A primary purpose of the Protocol is to build pathways between primary health services, mental health services and the homeless sector. The Protocol was one outcome of a 2007 project that sought to address health issues associated with homelessness.

The Protocol:

• creates ways for workers to better support people experiencing homelessness to access health services. 
• acknowledges the unique ways in which people experiencing homelessness engage with these services.
• sets out agreed good practice for supporting people experiencing homelessness to use health services.

The Protocol- part of a long-term project

The Protocol is part of a long-term project called ‘The Homelessness and Primary Health Service Coordination in the Melbourne CBD Project’. The Project commenced in 2007 and was funded by the Department of Human Services and the City of Melbourne. The Moonee Valley Melbourne Primary Care Partnership was the lead agency in facilitating the Project. The Inner North West Primary Care Partnership is now leading the Project.

Why is a Protocol needed?

Compared with the broader population, people experiencing homelessness experience poor physical and mental health, higher levels of drug and alcohol addiction and live with unacceptable levels of pain due to chronic or untreated conditions. They are also less likely to be included in health prevention strategies and less likely to access the health services they need without support.
The Protocol aims to redress these issues by removing some of the barriers to accessing health services in Melbourne CBD services. Barriers can present themselves in many ways that makes a homeless person less likely to access services.

What has come out of the Project and the Protocol?

• 2010 Guide To Accessing Services click here to access the Guide.
• Good Practice Guide to Improving Health Service Access
• The formation of the CBD Health and Homelessness Steering Group
   

The Guide to Accessing Services

The Guide to Accessing Services was published in June 2010. It is a comprehensive 28 page guide to key Melbourne Central Business District (CBD) services for people experiencing homelessness.

• General health
• Mental health
• Dental health
• Drug and alcohol
• Hospital services.  

Click here to access the guide.

Homelessness in Melbourne

In Victoria, 23,299 people were recorded as homeless on Census night 2006 (Council to Homeless Persons Fact Sheet No. 001, 2008).
Council to Homeless defines homelessness as:
1. Primary homelessness: people without conventional accommodation – e.g.
living on the streets, in deserted buildings, in cars, under bridges, in improvised dwellings (known as ‘sleeping rough’). Homelessness is often portrayed with images of a man sleeping on a park bench, people sleeping rough make up less than 15% of the homeless population.

2. Secondary homelessness: people moving between various forms of temporary shelter, including staying with friends or relatives, emergency accommodation and boarding houses. These people form about 65% of the homeless population.

3. Tertiary homelessness: people living in single rooms in private boarding houses on a long-term basis – without their own bathroom, kitchen or security of tenure – and people living as ‘marginal residents’ in caravan parks where no person in the household is in full time employment and all persons are at their ‘usual address’. About a quarter of homeless people are in this situation.

For further information about homelessness in Victoria, click here.

The Protocol has been developed by a cross-section of key health, homelessness and welfare agencies in the Melbourne CBD.  

The Steering Group has been meeting on a monthly basis since April 2010. Steering Group members are:
Alfred Homeless Outreach Psychiatry Service (HOPS)
Anglicare The Lazarus Centre
City of Melbourne
Clarendon HOPS
Council to Homeless Persons
Department of Health
Doutta Galla Community Health Service
Homeground
Inner North West Primary Care Parternship
Inner West Area Mental Health Service
Melbourne City Mission Frontyard
Melbourne General Practice Network
North Yarra Community Health Centre
Ozanam Community Centre
Salvation Army Life Centre
Royal Children’s Hospital Young People’s Health Service
Royal District Nursing Service Homeless Persons Program
Royal Melbourne Hospital
St Vincents ALERT program
Travellers Aid
Youth Projects Inc.