Chris Skelton/Stuff Dave is homeless and sleeps on the street outside central Christchurch department store, Ballantynes. Dave gave his permission for this photograph to be taken. But difficulty accessing health care was experienced by all homeless people, she said. Just over three quarters (118) of those in the study died “from conditions amenable to timely and effective healthcare interventions, mostly from natural causes and suicide”. “Most ... were alone at the time of death and were found deceased by witnesses, sometimes several months after that death occurred,” the study found. People over 75 where the cause of death was not able to be established or of a criminal nature were excluded.