A total of 47 people using or known to homeless services died in Dublin last year.
The Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) had been informed of the deaths of 45 homeless people in addition to two people who were non-service users in 2022. This is down from the 68 deaths reported in 2021 and the 49 deaths in 2020.
The figures have been slammed as "unacceptably high" by the HSE clinical lead for the Dublin Covid-19 homeless response, Dr Austin O'Carroll, who has been appointed by the DRHE to review how the deaths occurred, The Journal reports. Dr Carroll had been previously tasked with reviewing the mortality of people experiencing homelessness in 2020.
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He said the review would be a "non-blame" environment focusing on involving people who were providing services to someone who died to speak about what happened and if it could have been prevented. Dr O'Carroll said: "Everyone decides what happened, was there anything that could have been done better, was there anything that could have supported them.
"It is still unacceptably high, no doubt it is unacceptably high, but you also have to factor in more people are in homelessness, you also need to look at deaths versus the number of people in homelessness."
A spokesperson for the Dublin City Council said significant efforts were made in recent years to reduce the number of homeless deaths. This included all emergency accommodation now being provided on a 24-hour basis with meals, and in-reach primary care, including addiction services, provided by two HSE dedicated teams.
Dr O'Carroll said that some patterns had emerged while reviewing the deaths in recent years including substance abuse, accidents and a higher rate of certain conditions, such as COPD and heart disease, where homelessness may be a contributory factor.
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