City is hailed a national leader in vaccinating homeless people
DERBY has been a national leader on vaccinating its homeless population against Covid-19.
In the early stages of the city’s vaccination programme outside of hospitals, Derby GPs asked NHS England for permission to vaccinate the homeless population - despite them not being listed among the priority groups.
They believed Derby’s homeless population are among the most vulnerable in the city, alongside the most elderly.
However, NHS England rejected this offer and said the priority cohorts should be followed, Derby GPs have claimed.
Derby’s GP leadership chose to push on and start vaccinations for the hundreds of homeless people known to charities and officials in the city, regardless.
Around 80 per cent of the known homeless population in Derby - more than 300 people - have now been vaccinated against Covid-19 and second doses will be carried out in May.
There is an aim to administer jabs to the total 100 per cent of the homeless population by the end of next week.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Dr Drew Smith, clinical director leading operations at Derby Arena and GP at Wilson Street Surgery, said it was clear the homeless population should have been prioritised higher.
Following Derby’s actions, and other areas of England, notably Oldham, homeless residents were moved up to priority group six people aged 16-64 with specific underlying health conditions which leave them at greater risk from the virus.
Dr Smith said: “It is difficult to justify how a homeless person is less at risk than someone living in a substantial house in Ashbourne.”
Dr Komal Raj, a fellow Wilson Street Surgery GP who is leading the city’s homeless vaccination roll-out, said the decision to vaccinate many others before the homeless is “difficult to defend”.
He said: “Homelessness is a big contributing factor to health risks and morbidity. They have the health risk of someone in the 75-plus population. The average morbidity among the homeless population in the city is 43.
“That shouldn’t be happening, it’s terrible. People shouldn’t be dying at age 43, not in a country with this wealth.
“Out of the people we know are most at risk, we knew the homeless had to be included. We do the same each year with the flu vaccinations in the city.”
He said that vaccinating the homeless population was vitally important for them as individuals but also to lessen the risk for wider society.
Two vaccination clinics have been held for Derby’s homeless population in late February and one in early March, which were drop-ins without appointments at Safe Space in Normanton Road in the city centre. The change to the prioritisation of the homeless was not made until March 11.
This work was coordinated by social services at Derby City Council, charities and the vital work of Tracy Cunningham, a paramedic at East Midlands Ambulance Service, who specialises in assisting rough sleepers in the city.
Tracy played a key part in getting the word out about the clinics and encouraging people to come forward.
Dr Raj said: “We weren’t allowed to do it but we felt very strongly that we needed to.”
More than 200 homeless people in the city were vaccinated at the first clinic, with chocolate and a fizzy drink given out at the same time.
On May 11, a drop-in clinic will be hosted to give Derby’s homeless population their second vaccination doses.
Dr Raj said that once a single-dose vaccine is available this process will be much smoother. He said from experience at Wilson Street “homeless people do not engage with health services or their GP or for medicals, so we knew this was going to be a challenge, and many would likely not come back for a second dose if we gave them a date, so we are doing all of the second doses on one day”.
NHS England declined to comment and deferred to Joined Up Care Derbyshire and the vaccination priority list, devised by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. A spokesperson for Joined Up Care Derbyshire, which oversees all health and social care organisations in the county and city, said: “Derbyshire has an innovative and successful approach to ensuring the greatest possible uptake of Covid-19 vaccinations among its large and diverse community.
“Working with partner agencies in early 2021, GP practices in Derby city carried out a successful pilot of vaccination clinics for several hundred homeless patients.
“We are proud of the initiative and compassion shown by the teams who carried out this vital work to protect some of the most vulnerable people in our society.
“Although homeless people were not specifically listed as a priority group for vaccination, the clinics were in line with guidance by the Joint Committee on Vaccine and Immunisation, which enables doctors to use their judgement to take into account the risk to patients of serious illness from Covid-19.
“On March 11, JCVI formally updated its guidance to include homeless people in its list of people who are among the highest priority of people eligible for vaccination.”
It’s terrible. People shouldn’t be dying at age 43, not in a country with this wealth.
Dr Komal Raj