Learning Day on Family Homelessness
23 January 2017
Community nurses, health visitors, GPs, midwives and allied health professionals are invited to a learning and networking day on the topic of ‘Healthcare for Homeless Families’, organised by The Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI).
The day is free to attend and will take place on Friday 17th March in central Birmingham and features a diverse range of speakers, case studies from nurses of good practice, workshops on safeguarding, integrated care and policy and networking opportunities. The keynote speaker is Public Health England’s national lead nurse for children, young people and families and QNI Fellow, Wendy Nicholson.
The day has been organised in response to growing evidence that the number of families asking for assistance from their authorities due to homelessness is rising significantly. Conversations between the QNI and specialist health visitors for homeless families have revealed they felt their families were more vulnerable than ever, and that there was less funding available for a holistic multi-agency response.
Becoming homeless can mean that children end up living in temporary accommodation with insufficient space to develop, play and thrive. This instability has an impact on their parents’ (and their own) mental health. More families are approaching their local authorities for homelessness assistance, and so professionals across health and housing sectors have to work ever more innovatively, creatively and collaboratively to find solutions that can help the families that need them. The event will help professionals gain wider perspective on the health issues of family homelessness, and hear from case studies that have made a positive difference.
David Parker-RadfordThis learning day aims to bring interested people together to develop their knowledge, gain new ideas and contribute to a wider group interested in supporting this agenda. As well as registered health professionals, the event is open to students, housing and voluntary sector support professionals and people with lived experience of homelessness interested in furthering their knowledge, meeting others in their sector and contributing their own experiences to help improve care.
The event organiser, David Parker-Radford, QNI Homeless Health Project Manager said that the event was an important one with relevance to all community health professionals. Speakers include:
- Wendy Nicholson, National Lead Nurse for Children, Young People and Families, Public Health England
- Maxine Jenkins QN, Specialist Health Visitor for Homeless Families, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
- Kat Sellers, Health Partnerships Manager, National Housing Federation
- Suzanne Reynolds, Specialist Midwife for Homeless, Migrant and Asylum Seeking Pregnant Women, Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust
- Trudi Law QN, Specialist Health Visitor for Vulnerable Families, The Royal Wolverhampton Hospital Trust
- Rosalynde Lowe CBE, Chair, QNI Homeless Health National Advisory Group
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