Annual Report: 1995
West London Initiative on Single Homelessness

WISH was founded in September 1995 by a group of volunteers to provide temporary accommodation, help and support to homeless people in West London. The Charity's seven trustees, most of whom live in West London, had been involved in initiatives to alleviate homelessness over many years, and have worked closely with local organisations serving the single homeless throughout the UK. In under three months, through links with Crisis and other organisations.WISH was able to set up and run a Christmas service tailored to the West London area. With the help of several hundred volunteers, 24 hour accommodation was provided to cater for up to 150 single homeless people at centres in Park Royal and Ealing for a week over Christmas 1995. A wide range of services was provided, utilising the skills and expertise of the volunteers. Food, clothing, washing facilities, medical care, dental care, hairdressing, chiropody, advice, arts and crafts and entertainment both live and televised were just some of the services on offer throughout the Christmas week.
		Guests were asked where they had been sleeping before coming to "The Roof" in order to help us build an accurate picture of our clientele
		Responses were as follows:
		Rough Hostel Cold Weather Shelter B&B A friend/relative Own flat Other (disabled bedsit, squat, shed) Preferred not to say	39% 12% 2% 4% 6% 4% 6% 27%

Food
Providing three hot meals a day for this many people demands a lot of food and a lot of organisation. Volunteers working in teams peeled potatoes, washed carrots and prepared food throughout the night in order that it would be ready for the following day.
Much of the food was kindly donated by local schools, church groups and businesses and was greatly appreciated. Other items of food were donated  by CRISIS.

Medical

24 hour first aid cover was available from first aiders and nurses. There were two doctor's surgeries per day. Access to the first aid room was by self referral.

49 guests were seen of which 45 were male and 4 were female. The age range was from 17 to 72. Guests visited the first aid room between 1 and 9 times, giving a total of 1 12 visits. 28 guests stated that they had a G.P. 9 said that they did not. Information was not recorded for 12.

Diagnoses

Daignostic Group	No of guests in whom the diagnosis was made	% of guests	% of diagnosis
Respiratory Gastrointestinal Musculoskeletal Central Nervous System Skin Porblems Injuries Drug / Alcohol related Psychiatric / Emotional Other	17 14 6 3 9 6 16 9 10	34 28 12 6 18 12 32 18 20	19 16 7 3 10 7 18 10 11

Summary
A large percentage of guests self referred to the medical room and we were able to provide treatment for most of them. Many of the medical problems were complex and the majority included some emotional factors, advice and reassurance probably is underestimated in the above figures. The health of the homeless population is generally poor and many are at risk of developing complications of normally self limiting illnesses because of their living conditions.

Dental Care

Chiropody A frequent problem homeless people have is bad feet. Walking long distances perhaps in ill fitting shoes that are damp causes a variety of foot problems. WISH is able to help in a number of ways. We are able to provide the washing facilities for guests to get their feet clean and dry, new socks and shoes and a chiropodist provided a heavily used footcare service on two days. It is our hope that we will  be able to provide this much needed service throughout the entire week in 1996.

Washing Facilities Washing facilities including hot showers were available 24 hours a day. Guests were provided with fresh towels and toiletries. WISH were kindly donated a range of toiletries enabling guests to be given not only the basics: toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap and shampoo etc, but also little luxuries such as: aftershave, deodorant and talcum powder.

Hairdressing

Advice

Entertainment

Food, clothing and goods not used during the operation ofWISH's Christmas Roof were passed on to other charities and organisations working with the homeless in the West London Area.