Homeless charity to open ninth clinic

Karen Gennard (left) with Di Landon from the health centre

Vision Care for Homeless People (VCHP)  is to open a new weekly clinic in the middle of Gloucester, with funding provided by Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group and supported by the local optical committee.

The ninth VCHP clinic in England, the clinic will be housed within the Rikenel Health Centre, which provides care for the city’s homeless community.

Equipped to NHS standards, much of the technology has been provided by the Hakim Group, which has several practices in the area.

Karen Gennard, a local optometrist who has worked for Norville for many years, is the new clinic manager and is keen to open the doors.

She said: “We know that homeless people don’t always have easy access to health services, and as we will be in the same building as GPs and nurses caring for the homeless community we are expecting to have many referrals.

“Research by Vision Care for Homeless People has found that around 70 per cent of homeless people need glasses for some aspect of their vision, and 10 per cent of patients seen are referred to hospital for other ocular conditions. We are expecting to be busy.”

The Norville (20/20) lab is taking on the glazing work for the new clinic and additional supplies are being donated by Bondeye and Mainline.

The clinic is now looking for volunteers and for a team lead who will oversee fundraising. If you can help, email karen.gennard@vchp.org.uk