Vision Care for Homeless People (VCHP) and Specsavers partnered on a year-long pilot to provide vision care for 231 people experiencing homelessness across Yorkshire.
From March 2024 to March 2025, optometrists from Specsavers’ Bradford and York home visits team provided eye care to 271 people across 16 homelessness support centres in York, Scarborough, Huddersfield, Bradford, Wakefield, Bridlington, and Leeds. Yorkshire-based The Body Doctor also provided £2,500 worth of products to relieve common eye conditions.
In a survey carried out during the pilot, the team discovered that 13% of people seen had never had an eye test, and for 31%, it had been over five years since their last test. A further 44% felt an eye test isn’t a priority due to their current circumstances, and 56% said they’d lost, broken or even had their glasses stolen. Almost 10% of visitors to the pop-up clinics also required a referral for further treatment.
Hannah Telfer, CEO of VCHP, said: ‘Our aim is to bring essential eye care to people affected by homelessness. We are taking an innovative approach to delivering care, which has provided more people with vital care in just 10 months compared to our larger, static city clinics, highlighting the importance of this flexible model to the community.’
