Nottingham CityCare’s Homeless Health Clinical Lead Suzey Joseph is celebrating after being awarded the British Empire Medal in the New Year's Honours list.
Recognised for services to homeless people in Nottinghamshire, Suzey says the award is a tribute to everyone in the Nottingham City Severe and Multiple Disadvantage Partnership working hard to ensure people experiencing severe and multiple disadvantage receive the care they need.
Part of Nottingham CityCare, the city’s largest provider of NHS community health services, the Homeless Health Team works alongside other agencies, charities and the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire health and care system to provide triage, treatment, and support directly to homeless people.
They also work closely with Nottingham University Hospitals and Nottingham City Council to support complex hospital discharges, reducing Emergency Department attendance and admission or re-admission to hospital.
Suzey (Pictured left of the image on the right with Framework’s Street Outreach Manager Sam Lanes) said: “It is a wonderful accolade but it’s not just about me.
“My work in homeless health began more than 20 years ago and I joined CityCare’s Homeless Health Team in 2014.
“So much work has been achieved by everyone in the team, with individuals who have worked with CityCare over many years bringing valuable experience and making an enormous difference, including:
- Specialist Care Co-ordinator Sue Stimson – without Sue, the team cannot function
- Former team member Kay Barratt, who embraced all aspects of homeless health and completely understands the importance of tackling health inequalities.
“Over the past ten years we have developed partnerships to address health inequalities and improve access to care for some of the most vulnerable people in society, often with multiple conditions and complex medical histories.”
CityCare Director of Operations Helen Woodiwiss congratulated Suzey on her New Year’s Honour, saying: “We are all immensely proud of Suzey and the team for the work they do on the streets of Nottingham to deliver care to the homeless.
“It is a great example of different organisations coming together to ensure people finding themselves living on the streets have access to the care they need.”
Partnerships have been forged with Changing Futures, Framework, Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust, Emmanuel House, The Friary, POW Nottingham, GPs and hospitals, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board, Nottinghamshire Police, local councils, Public Health and many more, to deliver assertive street outreach with a health specialism.
In 2017 Suzey began a three-year secondment with Framework’s Street Outreach Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Teams to pilot assertive clinical street outreach.
Lessons learned from this were fundamental to the care Suzey was able to deliver during the Covid pandemic and more recently she has contributed to the Centre for Homelessness Impact Study Test and Learn: Outreach with a health specialism.
This England-wide research programme will evaluate the impact of having primary care nurses attached to street outreach teams with the creation of teams similar to Nottingham’s in eight towns and cities across England.
Suzey says the collaborations must continue to grow.
“We can’t let it stop. There is still so much to do. I am very fortunate to have worked with and had the support of Nottingham City Council’s Rough Sleeping Operations Manager Kim Pike. This year, Viv Dickinson, who has worked with the Homeless Health Team for many years, will take over from Kim and I am very much looking forward to working with her and Framework’s Street Outreach Manager Sam Lanes.
“We will also be working with homeless people themselves through the city council Public Health Department’s Service User and Carer Involvement Officer Glen Jarvis to ensure we are providing the most effective and accessible care.
“We must do everything we can to extend the partnerships we have formed and share our knowledge and learning more widely to further improve access to services across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.”
(Image below: Suzey Joseph (centre) with (from left) Specialist Care Co-ordinator Sue Stimson, Homeless Health Nurse Specialist Kay Barratt, Clinical Service Manager Andrea Biddulph and Homeless Health Nurse Specialist Bev Hawkins)
Date published: 3 January 2025
