Sleeping on the cold hard streets results in many aches and pains and aggravates existing problems and injuries. The relief from the pain that physiotherapy can provide is life changing for many of our friends. For the past four years Barnabus has hosted physiotherapy students from Manchester Metropolitan University, supervised by a physiotherapist, in our medical suite. It's a brilliant opportunity for the students to gain clinical experience whilst also providing our friends with physiotherapy.

Matt Gunn discovered the Barnabus placement scheme when he was studying physiotherapy at Manchester Metropolitan University, he thought it was such a unique project that he chose it as the subject of his Masters Dissertation. This research gained ethical approval and was supervised by a Manchester Metropolitan University lecturer. In his research, Matt explored the perceptions of physiotherapy and barriers to access for people experiencing homelessness.

Matt found that in the homelessness community, as with wider society, perceptions of physiotherapy are very varied. These were based on personal experience, accessibility and availability.

People experiencing homelessness often struggle to access healthcare services due to accessibility, stigma and other factors. This can lead to people experiencing homelessness not seeking healthcare, Matt also saw this in his research. He also found that the people he spoke to could struggle with making appointments due to a reliance on public transport, many other support appointments and often-chaotic lifestyles. One person had been prescribed physiotherapy on the NHS but had to pay to use public transport to get there as it was far from their temporary accommodation.

Matt found that when people experiencing homelessness did access healthcare services there is a big reliance on trust, being in a safe space that they know and feel comfortable in. As a result services are often brought to homelessness services, this also makes appointments much easier to get to.

There were also comments made about self-image as people experiencing homelessness lack their own space to do prescribed stretches and exercises in private. An inability to do exercises could reduce the effectiveness of physiotherapy.

Creating better services

This research provides services like Barnabus who look to provide healthcare to people experiencing homelessness with valuable knowledge. Barnabus already provides NHS care, physiotherapy, podiatry and more from our centre, but there is always room for improvement and the research is a good opportunity to help partner organisations improve too. Matt has also been accepted to present his research findings at the national physiotherapy congress in Manchester in October 2024.

Homelessness intersects with many areas of health and social care and at Barnabus we are always looking to learn and expand our knowledge as a team. We also relish the opportunities to bring in researchers into our centre to help grow the collective knowledge in the homelessness sector, hopefully helping all organisations provide greater care or identify gaps in knowledge or provision.

If you are interested in conducting research around homelessness or it’s intersecting areas please get in touch just email us at [email protected] we look forward to discussing your ideas with you.