A Celebration Of HART

On Wednesday 29 May, Rochdale Health Alliance hosted a celebration of HART (Homeless Alliance Response Team) event at Rochdale Town Hall.

HART was formed in April 2017 in order to provide a voluntary primary healthcare service for the homeless and transient of the borough in collaboration with the Soup Kitchen at Champness Hall, Rochdale.

Rochdale has a rich history of collaborative working after all, it’s where the co-operative consumer societies were started by the Rochdale Pioneers in 1844. The purpose of the Celebration of HART event was to celebrate the years of collaborative working between HART and its partner agencies within Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale.

There was an overview of the magnificent Town Hall’s history followed by The Mayor of Rochdale, who opened the event. Dr Mo Jiva gave an update on the current HART Service and how it has progressed from a voluntary offer based in a local Soup Kitchen over the years.

There were over forty-five delegates in attendance including housing support projects, voluntary sector, secondary care colleagues, drug and alcohol services and drop-in centres.

A number of attendees spoke about their service offering, and how they work closely with HART to reduce health inequalities across the borough. Both Elaine and Rachel, the HART nurses, spoke and said how valuable our partners are to the HART service and how working together achieves positive outcomes. The service users who attended talked about their experience of engaging with the HART service and how it has helped them to improve their lives.

Attendees were asked to complete a pledge card to HART describing how they intend to continue committing their support to the service and these included:

·      Refer patients and collaborative working.

·      Maintaining a safe space to see patients.

·      Sharing and encouraging joint working across the borough to support people experiencing homelessness and rough sleeping.

·      Promoting and encouraging residents to meet their health needs.

Rochdale Health Alliance and the HART team would like to extend their thanks to the Mayor of Rochdale and all the representatives from our partner agencies for attending the event and continuing to support the HART service.