A MEDICAL centre for homeless people is joining forces with an East Oxford friary to help improve its service.

The Greyfriars are to help the Luther Street Medical Centre (LSMC) after they were put in touch with the centre through an article in the Oxford Mail.

The LSMC, off Speedwell Street, wants more of the 600 homeless people in its care to join three new patient participation groups.

They are groups of patients from GP practices who meet regularly and discuss what changes they would like at their surgery – with feedback going straight to practice staff.

Substance misuse support worker Richard Lohman said: “The plan is to have a number of sub-groups to get as wide a range of views as possible.

“There will be different groups for those who are living on the streets and who have the most chaotic lives, those who are a bit more stable and into recovery and then those staying at hostels as well.”

The centre has already been successfully running one group out of St Michael at the North Gate church for two and a half years. Now it wants to expand the scheme.

One of the new groups will be led by Clair Richardson, a resident at Simon House hostel in Oxford. She will be assisted by Friar Daniel Geary, who will act as a mentor and provide professional advice.

The Greyfriars have for hundreds of years dedicated themselves to outreach work with the charities, the elderly and homeless people. In the summer they moved back to Oxford after fleeing it during the English Reformation almost 500 years ago.

Friar Daniel, below, said he had been contacted by Mr Lohman after he had read the Oxford Mail’s article about the Greyfriar’s new home in East Oxford.

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He said: “We are trying to build bridges with organisations in the city and for us this kind of project, where we are helping people who find themselves homeless get back their sense of dignity, is really important.

“It is also a great opportunity to see where our friars can be of assistance in the future.”

Mrs Richardson will be heading one of the three new groups, based at the hostel. She came to the LSMC 18 months ago with drug and alchohol addictions, after living in the city for just over eight years.

The 41-year-old said: “I had been an addict and alchoholic for 20 years and in and out of prison. But I came to the surgery and they put me in the recovery programme which put me on the right track. Until you make the decision yourself to leave that life you will never be ready, but I owe my life to the surgery.”

Mrs Richardson said things that were passed on in feedback range from simple measures – such as more comfortable waiting lounge seating – to working towards creating a separate surgery service for women.

She added: “Women can be more vulnerable than men when they are homeless, but they also sometimes need to talk with other women about certain subjects.”

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