Abstract
The Department of Health, Action Plan for Children and Young People states 22% of all children in Australia aged 0-14 years live in housing instability. Exposure to housing instability in childhood is significantly linked to long term ill-health, lower academic achievement, increased poor health physically and mentally, and increased risk of adult homelessness. Housing instability has created detrimental under-servicing for children at a time when they are developmentally vulnerable. Despite previous research in this area stating that children who are disconnected from health, education and social activities normally associated with childhood and appropriate child developmental have lifelong detrimental health and well-being outcomes, little has been done to address this deficit. This report details the outcomes of a pilot health services delivery model and practice that actively addresses the current health system deficits for children living in housing instability through a Nurse Practitioner (NP)-led clinic. Inner Southern Homeless Service provided a Nurse Practitioner-led clinic service for all homeless families with children from Dec 2019 to Oct 2020. The employed Nurse Practitioner was paediatric Emergency Department endorsed NP. The Nurse Practitioner provided each child with a comprehensive health assessment using standardised tools, partnered with the families to develop referral and care access plans encompassing the health, social and educational needs of the child, and assisted the, to navigate the barriers to referral compliance. These barriers can include lack of transport (addressed here through vouchers or NGO fleet use), access to primary health care, (addressed through access to Bulk Billing General Practitioners and Medical Specialists) and liaising directly with schools.