A centre offering medical treatment to 1,600 homeless people in Oxfordshire has been handed over to the NHS.

Luther Street Medical Centre in St Ebbe's, Oxford, will now benefit from links with other GPs, while being able to do more to help the city's most disadvantaged residents.

The centre was set up in 1999 by Oxford Homeless Medical Fund -- a charity which was the brainchild of GP Hilary Allinson, who spent a lot of time giving health care to rough sleepers.

Now the charity will work with the Oxford City Primary Care Trust, which is responsible for Oxford's community health services. Surgery workers will be employed by the PCT, which will be able to offer NHS-based support to the doctors.

Luther Street Medical Centre's main aim is to offer homeless people GP services, but it also offers support to people as they move to new accommodation, before transferring them to other city doctors' practices.

A third of its patients suffer from serious illness, more than half have an alcohol or drug problem and one in three have a chronic mental health problem.

Martin Vincent, Luther Street chief executive, said: "For the last few years homeless and disadvantaged people in Oxford have benefited from easy access to the health and other support services provided by Luther Street, all of which have been developed with their needs in mind.

"This agreement should help ensure that we not only develop those services but feed the experiences and views of homeless people and those working with them to colleagues planning healthcare for the City as a whole. It ensures that services for homeless people are viewed as an integral part of the NHS, not just a fringe charitable activity."

The partnership was marked with a special signing ceremony witnessed by Oxford East MP Andrew Smith.