Barriers to Care

There is a large demand for health care within the homeless population. Priorities for the homeless population are firstly more basic needs such as shelter, food, and safety followed by health needs and lastly followed by mental health needs. This raises the question how easy is it for this population to access the care should they seek it? Barriers to care can be divided into three categories: physical, emotional, and financial. There is a paucity of studies regarding the homeless and low-income populations even though they are at the highest risk of health problems due to their living conditions. The current study examined what barriers people visiting the London Centre of Hope Family Health Team face when trying to access care, their demographics, how often they used the emergency department versus the family health team, and what resources they think will help them access care easier. Participants were clients of the London Centre of Hope Family Health Team. Forty participants partook in the study; 18 males and 22 females. A feedback form that was originally used by the family health team was revised for this study and was given to clients upon visiting the clinic. The results showed that there are some barriers to care that the clientele feel strongly affect them and that physical and emotiona