Final year medic, Joshua Strange, has been working with the homeless community in Manchester for the past five years. Running educational workshops and lectures, organising volunteering opportunities, creating a session for the undergraduate medicine curriculum and even publishing a paper, his activities have worked across different levels to effect social change.

His interest started in his first year after he attended a talk by Dr Pip Fisher, a GP for patients who works with marginalised groups that have poor access to healthcare consequently suffer unnecessarily.

Joshua saw the opportunity to really make a difference, taking inspiration from statistics showing that a third of deaths among homeless people are caused by treatable conditions. The Homeless Healthcare Society was set up to give rough sleepers access to the expert help they often need by getting them to engage with services such as day centres and improving the experiences they have with healthcare.

The Society works with other student groups, charities and NHS providers including Urban Village: the GP service commissioned for homeless patients. There are a range of groups operating and with this in mind, Joshua is keen to highlight the website and app, StreetSupport.net, a focal point for all the homelessness services for every day of the week allowing an individual’s specific needs to be met.