Clients of specialist mental health service Route One were the latest BHT clients to receive Covid-19 vaccinations last week, when a mobile clinic visited one of our properties in Hove. They join a growing group of vulnerable people who had not initially been prioritised for the vaccine, but who have now been reached thanks to collaborative efforts between Arch Healthcare, St John Ambulance, Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust, Justlife, Here and BHT.
BHT’s Route One service provides supported accommodation for sixty people with complex mental health needs. Staff at the project worked with local healthcare provider Here to secure vaccines for their clients, and to support them throughout the process.
Other BHT services that have secured vaccinations for their clients include the homeless hostel Phase One and First Base, the main resource centre for homeless people in Brighton and Hove. This follows successful lobbying by BHT and others, coordinated by Homeless Link, to include homeless people in the government’s priority groups for those to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, together with the frontline workers who support them.
On the day that Route One clients were to be vaccinated, a St John ambulance parked outside one of the project’s properties in Hove, acting as a mobile vaccination clinic. Route One staff and the Here team were on hand to explain the process and provide reassurance, and all went smoothly. The mobile clinic will return in two weeks to one of Route One’s properties in East Brighton, to give clients in this area their chance to access the vaccine.
Andy Winter, Chief Executive of BHT, said:
We are delighted that many of our most vulnerable clients are now able to access the Covid-19 vaccine. This is thanks to strong collaboration with the fantastic local organisations who are rolling out mobile vaccinations clinics, and to the persistence of our staff and so many others in the sector who have been advocating for the rights of homeless and other vulnerable groups during this crisis.
