In 2018, funding was awarded by the Burdett Trust for Nursing under the ‘Strengthening Nursing Leadership’ banner to support nurses working in the developing field of homeless hospital discharge.
Specialist homeless hospital discharge nurse roles started to emerge around 15 years ago, however the recent Homelessness Reduction Act (2017) makes it likely that more similar nurse roles will appear in the future.
This project was established to clearly define the role and it’s continuing professional development needs, but also to better understand the system leadership potential of these nurses. Hosted by the Pathway charity, the project ran over 15-months from January 2018 – March 2019. The Pathway charity undertakes needs assessment for, and supports the set-up of multi-disciplinary homeless hospital discharge teams within acute and mental health hospitals nationally.
The project was led by Samantha Dorney-Smith, Nursing Fellow, Pathway, who previously worked as a nurse lead for the King’s Health Partners Pathway Homeless Team (working across Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s and the South London and Maudsley). The project was supported by the Queen’s Nursing Institute, Royal College of Nursing and London Homeless Health Programme (Healthy London Partnership) who sent senior representatives to the project’s steering group. The Queen’s Nursing Institute also provided ongoing expert advice outside the steering group, alongside Dr Zana Khan from the Pathway Education committee.
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