For Julie, a health volunteer in the Resource Centre, The Passage is a calling. “Even if it’s just a chat and a smile,” she aims to make a difference to people’s lives at a time when they are facing many challenges.
Julie first heard about The Passage through her church. Sensing that the charity’s values would align with hers, and keen to work with people again after Covid disrupted her home-based osteopathy practice, she took up a role as a health volunteer in the Resource Centre.
Every Wednesday morning she attends the centre at The Passage, helping to support the Doctor Hickey Surgery – a weekly GP practice dedicated to supporting the health needs of people facing a homelessness crisis.
Julie is on hand to offer assistance and guidance. With the practice running a drop-in clinic – there are two treatment rooms located inside the centre – she manages clients’ medical concerns, acquiring information to pass on to the GPs working on-site.
Among her key responsibilities is helping people to register with the practice. “People who are homeless can find it very challenging to access healthcare services,” she explains. “There are many people who are displaced from where they used to live, or asylum seekers who were allocated a doctor when they arrived in the country, but that is often miles away from Westminster.” Doctor Hickey’s surgery is a welcome presence.
“There are certain medical conditions that our doctors see a lot,” Julie says. “Skin infections are common, as are foot infections and sores, as shoes are often ill-fitting or inadequate.”
The nature of sleeping outside, she adds, inevitably makes people more susceptible to common infections and musculoskeletal aches and pain. “And of course, the homeless population also suffer from all the conditions that the rest of the population suffer from. The doctors are able to ensure their patients get the medical care they need.”
Everyone’s story is unique, she says. Some people have suffered a complex range of setbacks, from relationship breakdowns to family bereavements, to job losses, substance abuse, and mental and physical illness. To everyone who wants to talk, Julie offers a listening ear. “It’s a blessing that The Passage is there to help everyone who comes here.”
Doctor Hickey’s Surgery: A History
The service was founded in 1987 as the personal mission of Dr. Mary Hickey, a religious sister and trained doctor. After returning from Zambia to her London convent and spending some time wandering around Westminster, she was struck by the alarming volume of people facing a homelessness crisis who were unable to access the services they needed.
With a borrowed office, prescription pad, and basic furniture, she began to see patients. Soon after speaking to the Archbishop of Westminster, she was granted proper premises, and the surgery has provided a service ever since. Even today, almost four decades after the surgery’s inception, Dr. Hickey still comes into The Passage from time to time to drop off donations.