Health checks diagnose TB in five homeless people

Five people have been diagnosed with TB.

The county council’s public health team funded a series of clinics across Northamptonshire to check the wellbeing of the hundreds of people sleeping outside in town centres and parks across the county.

The initiative checked people for TB, hepatitis A, B & C and HIV. People were also offered immunisations and the flu jab.

Those who were found to have the disease are now being given treatment.

The county’s director of public health Lucy Wightman said at Corby’s clinical commissioning group’s board meeting this week that the health scheme, which was the first of its kind in the area, worked well.

She said: “The project was very well received by the homeless population. We co-ordinated 21 organisations to deliver the health check.”

The towns of Kettering, Wellingborough, Northampton and Corby have had among the highest increase in homeless numbers in the East Midlands in the past year.

Councils are spending millions on housing families who have lost their homes often after being evicted from private tenancies.