Consider prioritising homeless people on waiting lists to improve their health, says NICE

Health and social care services need to work harder to improve the health of homeless people by considering prioritising them on waiting lists, offering them vouchers to engage with services, and not deregistering them for missing appointments, says a draft guideline from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.1 The guideline, which was developed with the Centre for Homelessness Impact, seeks to tackle the significant health inequalities and poor health outcomes among homeless people. Mortality among people experiencing homelessness is around 10 times higher than in the general population, and life expectancy is around 30 years less, with many deaths from preventable causes. The homeless population, which includes people living …