THERE IS A 48 HOUR PRESCRIPTION ORDER POLICY WITHOUT EXCEPTION – SEE LINK ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY TOWARDS ALL STAFF – NO ABUSE WILL BE ACCEPTED UNREASONABLE DEMANDS ON SPECIFIC CLINICIANS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED AS PER PRACTICE POLICY
Housing is closely related to health in many ways. Good housing is vital to good health and improvements in housing have certainly been one of the main causes of improvements in health in Northern Ireland.
However, limits on resources mean that there is almost always a waiting list for re- housing. It is obvious that there needs to be a system to give priority to re-housing those in greatest need. As part of this process an individual’s health status needs to be considered.
Often patients themselves are perfectly able to provide a description of their medical problems and how these affect their housing needs. This has the advantage that the information is given to the housing organisation in lay terms which should be easily understood by the non-medical staff who assess their relative priority.
We do not provide letters of support for housing applications. Request for a medical report for every individual who applies for housing simply adds to the ever increasing burden of paperwork which detracts from the time GPs can spend on their patients. The Housing Executive has confirmed that their staff should not ask applicants to approach their GP for letters of support. If medical evidence is required, there is an agreed process where the Housing Executive can contact the practice directly for information.
However there is lots of useful information available from Housing Rights Northern Ireland. This website contains lots of guidance regarding housing issues and problems.