Homeless face chronic health problems

THE shocking range of complex and chronic health problems among Ireland’s homeless community has been revealed for the first time.

The snapshot health survey of homeless people in Cork and Dublin gives the clearest picture yet of the challenges facing those helping them, and underlines the critical importance of specialist and round-the-clock healthcare for the homeless, the Simon Community said.

The survey, which was conducted among 537Simon service users in the last week of July, found they have high rates of mental health conditions, physical health conditions, alcohol and drug abuse, self-harm and attempted suicide.

In many cases, people suffered from a combination of two or more of these conditions.

In Cork, the survey found that:

* 66% suffered from mental ill-health;

* 59% suffered from physical ill-health;

* 20% had a combination of both;

* 27% indicated problem alcohol use;

* 26% used two or more drugs;

*14% were intravenous drug users;

*13% engaged in self-harm and 8% had attempted suicide in the previous six months.

The most common mental health conditions in both Cork and Dublin were depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

The most common physical health conditions were wounds and injuries, heart-related conditions and respiratory disorders and, in Dublin, Hepatitis C.

In Dublin the survey found 60% had a diagnosed physical health condition, 44% had a diagnosed mental health condition, and 24% had a combination of both.

Similar to Cork, 27% indicated problem alcohol use. Drug trends appear to be different between urban centres with 57% of drug users in Dublin using two or more drugs, while 89% are intravenous drug users.

A total of 15% of respondents engaged in self-harm, 17% expressed suicidal thoughts while 25 people had attempted to take their own life in the month prior to the survey.

The details were revealed at the launch of the Cork and Dublin Simon Community’s survey entitled: Homelessness Makes You Sick. Cork Simon director Colette Kelleher said the severity of the health issues facing people who are homeless is staggering.

“The survey underlines the challenges we face in making sure people who are long-term homeless have the support they need to start piecing their lives back together, and the critical importance of specialist healthcare,” she said.

Dublin Simon CEO Sam McGuinness said: “Given the scale of the health and related issues it’s not surprising that 43% of people with a diagnosed mental health condition were also problem drug users.”

“Dual diagnosis is extremely high in homeless services and specialist care is required for such complicated diagnosis.

The survey findings were released yesterday as part of the Simon Week 2010.

The findings will be presented to members of Dáil Éireann tomorrow.