CEIH connecting system leadership in health and homelessness

The Com­mis­sion on Excel­lence and Inno­va­tion in Health (CEIH) has launched the Coor­di­nat­ed Health and Home­less­ness Esca­la­tions Response in part­ner­ship with the Roy­al Ade­laide Hos­pi­tal (RAH), Ade­laide Zero Project and Toward Home Alliance. 

The ini­tia­tive brings togeth­er part­ners from health, hous­ing and com­mu­ni­ty ser­vices to pro­vide coor­di­nat­ed sup­port for peo­ple expe­ri­enc­ing home­less­ness who fre­quent­ly present to the Roy­al Ade­laide Hos­pi­tal Emer­gency Depart­ment. Part­ners include the Depart­ment of Human Ser­vices, men­tal health ser­vices, alco­hol and oth­er drug ser­vices, and home­less­ness services.

It aims to improve health and hous­ing out­comes through coor­di­nat­ed, trau­ma-informed and per­son-cen­tred respons­es, while also iden­ti­fy­ing and esca­lat­ing sys­temic bar­ri­ers impact­ing peo­ple with high­ly com­plex needs. 

This work sits with­in the CEIH Home­less­ness to Health Port­fo­lio, which sup­ports a more coor­di­nat­ed and evi­dence-informed response for peo­ple expe­ri­enc­ing home­less­ness and com­plex vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty through ini­tia­tives such as:

• inte­grat­ed home­less­ness responses
• data shar­ing and intel­li­gence projects
• emer­gency depart­ment com­plex care planning
• region­al partnerships
• ser­vice map­ping and work­force capa­bil­i­ty initiatives.

The CEIH also con­tributes nation­al­ly through its strate­gic part­ner­ship with the Aus­tralian Alliance to End Home­less­ness (AAEH) and by sup­port­ing the strate­gic lead of the Aus­tralian Health, Hous­ing & Home­less­ness Net­work (A3HN).

Through the part­ner­ship with A3HN, the CEIH is help­ing strength­en South Australia’s con­nec­tion to emerg­ing nation­al reform, inno­va­tion and shared learn­ing across the health, hous­ing and home­less­ness sectors. 

Cur­rent A3HN ini­tia­tives include nation­al Com­mu­ni­ties of Prac­tice, the Home­less­ness Health Frame­work, the State of the Nation map­ping project, strate­gic lead­er­ship forums, work­force capa­bil­i­ty ini­tia­tives and sup­port for the health-informed imple­men­ta­tion of Advance to Zero across Australia.

Togeth­er, these part­ner­ships strength­en coor­di­na­tion across sys­tems and sup­port more inte­grat­ed, per­son-cen­tred responses.

To explore oppor­tu­ni­ties for col­lab­o­ra­tion, please con­tact us at CEIH@​sa.​gov.​au.