National Housing Strategy for People with a Disability 2011 - 2016

mental health disability 93 . This figure only includes people who have a formal diagnosis.Further, Lawless and Corr (2005) 94 investigated psychiatric health in a sample of thehomeless population. Almost half the respondents (48%) reported having concerns abouttheir psychiatric health. Of the sample, 42% had had a psychiatric assessment, 30% hadbeen admitted to a psychiatric hospital, and 30% had been diagnosed with a psychiatricillness. Other studies in Ireland estimate that 37%–50% of the homeless population hasmental health problems (Holohan, 1997; Smith et al. 2001), and for Northern Ireland,estimates stand at around 37% (McGilloway and Donnelly, 1996).9.47 Discharge from mental health facilities is recognised as one of the triggers that canlead to homelessness. The HSE Code of Practice for Integrated Discharge Planning is theHSE policy for all admissions and discharges since November 2008. It reflects a modelspecifically developed around acute hospital discharges. However, its discharge planning,while not specific to people who are homeless or people with a psychiatric illness, is atemplate to be implemented within all HSE services including mental health. This HSEdocument has been sent to all managers with responsibility for mental health services.9.48 Since January 2010, a guidance document from the Mental Health Commission, Codeof Practice on Admission, Transfer and Discharge to and from an Approved Centre, has beenin place. This makes specific reference to the discharge of those who are homeless fromthe psychiatric services.9.49 Both of the above documents now offer both a policy statement and a guidancestatement on the discharge of people from the psychiatric services.9.50 The Dublin Joint Homeless Forum has developed a data system which will streamlinedata in relation to homeless people. This will include information on the mental healthstatus of homeless people, allowing services to better respond to their mental health needs.The development of this new client based data system (PASS) was completed towards theend of 2010 and training of the system was rolled out to statutory and voluntary homelessservices. In January 2011 the system went live and it is currently being rolled out to allstatutory funded homeless services in Dublin.Slí Scheme – Support to Live Independently9.51 The Slí Scheme was launched in June 2009 and assists people progress fromhomelessness to independent living in mainstream housing and forms an important elementin ending long term homelessness, by coordinating appropriate tenancy and other supportsto meet individual need within local community settings. In addition to providing93Source: Holistic Needs Assessment.94Lawless M and Corr C (2005) - Drug use among the homeless population in Ireland.121