The pan-London Co-occurring Conditions Programme

Here, you’ll find information about the project’s aims, activities, and tailored resources for substance use and mental health services. Led by Transformation Partners and overseen by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) London Alcohol, Drugs, and Tobacco programme, the project focuses on improving coordination between substance use and mental health services for people experiencing homelessness in London.

Find the programme’s key focus areas below.

Why is this project important?

People experiencing multiple disadvantage with co-occurring mental health, substance use, neurodiversity and homelessness often face barriers when trying to access the support they need. Similarly, many services struggle to engage effectively with people experiencing multiple disadvantage and may label them ‘hard to engage’ or ‘entrenched’.

We aim to look beyond these labels and share the lived experience of individuals as they interact with substance use services. To help show practitioners what can be done to improve a person’s experience.

What are we doing?

The co-occurring conditions project, part of the Homeless Health London Partnership, is embedded within five NHS Integrated Health Boards in London to help improve the experience of health and care services and address the stigma often faced by many when accessing services.

We do this through:

• Protocols: Establishing protocols for integrated care between homelessness, mental health, learning disability and substance use services across London
• Integration: Improving coordination, communication and joint-working between homelessness, mental health, learning disability and substance use provision across London
• Workforce development: Working with ICBs to create workforce development plans
• Learning and development: Creating platforms to share good practice & build learning networks
• Access: Improving access to substance use treatment for people who are homeless
• Treatment: Improving treatment completion rates and access to general healthcare and GP registration

Training and resources

Here you’ll find useful e-learnings and resources targeted at improving experience of and access to services for people with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders.

Contact us

If you would like to contact a member of our team, don’t hesitate to reach out at: rf-tr.hlp-homelesshealth@nhs.net