PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Health Services: Homelessness (13 September 2017)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidelines his Department has issued to hospital staff on dealing with homeless people who are seeking treatment but lack the documentation required for mandatory identity checks.

Asked by:
Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat)

No assessment has been made by the Department of the effect of mandatory identity checks on access to healthcare for homeless people.

There is no reason why a person of no fixed abode cannot pass the ordinary resident test, as long as they meet the ordinary residence standards. Further information on these standards is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ordinary-residence-pages

A person will be ‘ordinarily resident’ in the United Kingdom when that residence is lawful and adopted voluntarily and for settled purposes as part of the regular order of his or her life for the time being, whether of short or long duration.

Therefore, no guidelines have been issued by the Department to hospital staff on dealing with homeless people who are seeking treatment but lack the documentation required for mandatory ID checks.

NHS England has issued guidance to general practices to clarify that proof of identity is not required to register with a general practitioner – this is available at:

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/doctors/Pages/NHSGPs.aspx

Answered by:
Dame Jackie Doyle-Price (Conservative)
10 October 2017