RT Article
T1 Discharge policies for homeless people and immigrants: Compromising professional ethics
JF Nursing ethics
VO 27
IS 5
SP 1355
OP 1363
A1 Hodson, Nathan
A1 Glennerster, Rose
LA English
PB Sage
YR 2020
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1779459637
AB Discharging a homeless patient from hospital raises ethical issues which are compounded when the patient is from outside the United Kingdom. This article begins with an extended case study of a 30-year-old homeless man from Lithuania describing his complex medical and social needs. It is best practice for all homeless patients to have their housing needs planned for prior to discharge, but this is made more difficult by the United Kingdom’s ‘hostile environment’ policy which creates a subclass of homeless people who are not eligible for support. This means healthcare professionals discharge patients back to homelessness, even when this is likely to adversely affect their health and dignity both directly and indirectly through impairing access to care for chronic conditions. Policies in health and social care which compel professionals to treat some patients with second-class care undermine the ethics of healthcare professions.
K1 Professionalism
K1 Professional Ethics
K1 Primary Care
K1 Homelessness
K1 Equity
K1 Discharge
DO 10.1177/0969733020912518