A professor from Lynn is leading a team of health experts working on a ground-breaking project to tackle cancer among the homeless.
Video: East of England Cancer Alliance and Anglia Ruskin University
Video: East of England Cancer Alliance and Anglia Ruskin University
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00:00We know problems with homelessness are increasing, and another thing we know is that people who are experiencing homelessness are less likely to access health services.
00:13We hope that having health navigators in both the Cambridge Access Surgery, in Peterborough, Wisbech and Kingslyn,
00:21we will enable people to feel able to access health services more easily and to continue to engage and connect with treatment and with health services.
00:34This project is really important because of the high level of long-term health conditions that we observe within the homeless population.
00:41A really shocking statistic is that the average life expectancy for a homeless male is around 45 years of age,
00:48and for a homeless female it's around 43 years of age, which is around 30 years lower than for the general population.
00:54The health navigator and patient empowerment model for early detection of liver disease is based on a previous study known as Cancer Less,
01:02where we saw an increase in cancer screening uptake as well as an increase in cancer diagnosis.
01:08We're particularly focusing on liver disease and liver cancer, and also help to identify other ongoing chronic conditions they may need help and support with,
01:21and to access health services by building a really important engagement of trust with the health navigators.