{
  "abstract": "Introduction and objectives Rough-sleepers (RS) are group of homeless people who sleep on the streets. Barriers to health care include drug and alcohol misuse, social isolation and mental health issues. There has been a 20% increase in the numbers of RS in England since 2023 and numbers are still growing.1 The average age of death for a RS in the UK today is 45. One major cause of premature death is respiratory issues including pneumonia, TB and COPD.To address these health inequalities and mitigate the impact of respiratory disease, the RS Virtual ward (RSVW) was set up in August 2024 to deliver care closer to the homeless, in a collaboration between Nottingham University Hospitals, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Framework Housing Association, to improve access to both respiratory diagnostic and treatment services.Methods We analysed RS hospital data pre and post RSVW across Emergency Department (ED), Inpatient (IP) and Intensive care (ITU) cohorts to evaluate the clinic’s impact in reducing hospital admissions. Pre and post RSVW attendance were studied, comparing average days in ED, IP, and ITU across 8.5–10.1 years pre-RSVW versus post-RSVW data annualised to 1 year.Results See table 1The mean annualized number of days in hospital, either in ED, as an in-patient or on ITU was 0.92, 2.56 and 1.28 prior to introduction of the RSVW and 0.72, 1.55 and 0.88, post service introduction, a reduction of 22%, 40% and 32% respectively.Abstract P125 Table 1Conclusion Rough sleepers utilize significant healthcare services. Respiratory problems are common, but also potentially preventable and treatable. 2 The implementation of a RSVW service significantly reduced hospital utilization (ranging from 21.7% to 39.5%) and hospital re-attendance (ranging from 75 to 92%) suggesting that an optimised service in the community can provide better healthcare access and outcomes to the underprivileged population, in turn saving substantial funds for the National Health Service. These outcomes support broader adoption of RSVWs.References Wilson W, et al, Rough sleeping in England: causes and statistics. London: House of Commons Library; 2024 Mar 6. Report No.: CBP-10173.Homelessness and respiratory disease. Lancet Respir Med. 2013;1(3):e17. doi:10.1016/S2213–2600(13)70267–4",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Nottingham University Hospitals, Nottingham, UK"
      ],
      "name": "S Balasubramanian"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Nottingham University Hospitals, Nottingham, UK"
      ],
      "name": "C Singh"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Nottingham University Hospitals, Nottingham, UK"
      ],
      "name": "H Young"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Nottingham University Hospitals, Nottingham, UK"
      ],
      "name": "M Tickle"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Nottingham, UK"
      ],
      "name": "S Nagra"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Nottingham CityCare Partnership, Nottingham, UK"
      ],
      "name": "S Joseph"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Nottingham CityCare Partnership, Nottingham, UK"
      ],
      "name": "S Stimson"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Nottingham University Hospitals, Nottingham, UK"
      ],
      "name": "A Fogarty"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "University of Leicester, Leicester, UK"
      ],
      "name": "D Shaw"
    }
  ],
  "title": "P125 Dedicated respiratory service for rough sleepers",
  "uid": "821535f8-ee65-5a3f-ac89-58a69b8f2e70"
}