Healthy Communities Collaborative

The award winning Healthy Communities Collaborative was developed under the NHS Plan heading 'new partnerships to tackle inequalities'. It aims to put community members at the forefront of service change, at the same time as developing deprived communities. The key objectives of the collaborative are to engage community members in using improvement techniques to impact on health issues.

Reducing Falls in Older People

Reducing Falls is one of the topics covered by the Healthy Communities Collaborative. Initially teams were recruited across three areas of England, to test out the idea over a one year pilot. The teams consisted of a mixture of community members and staff from relevant local agencies, including the volunteer sector. There were, deliberately, a greater proportion of community members than practitioners in each team.

Key Points:

  • putting community members at the forefront of evidence based service change
  • using improvement techniques to reduce falls in older people 
  • devised template for multi-agency working and established new partnerships to tackle inequalities.

Achievements:

  • pilot program achieved a 32% reduction in falls of people aged 65 years and over
  • built social capital stimulating a desire in communities to move on to other topics 
  • removed many barriers which prevented organisations from engaging with communities.

Widening Access to a Healthy Diet

Food and access to a healthy diet are fundamental to good health and disease prevention. Based on a framework for food policy by Dr. Martin Caraher of the Food Policy Studies Unit, London, UK IF devised a program for widening access to a healthy diet. The program involved community led, multi agency teams and particularly focused on low income socioeconomic groups.

Key Points:

  • addressed the deficit in skills and knowledge around food and cooking
  • created a template for multi-agency working groups
  • removed barriers which prevent organisations from engaging with communities 
  • built a social capital stimulating a desire in the communities to move onto other topics
  • worked with GPs to address the needs of newly diagnosed people with Type 2 diabetes, to help them control and manage their diet 
  • worked with parents and staff in 20 schools in Northampton to improve availability and knowledge in relation to healthy eating. The work includes: teaching cookery, school vegetable bags initiative and healthy lunch boxes.

Achievements:

  • 628 people attended basic food hygiene and cooking courses, facilitated by the Healthy Communities Collaborative members, across three sites, in the first year
  • working across three areas, 30 corner shops were recorded by local residents as having an improvement of 17.2% in the accessibility and availability of healthier food options and awareness of government guidelines on healthy eating 
  • expanded into the residential care sector, where members analyse the composition and variety of meals provided, actively involving residents in planning menus and in sharing their meal preferences.

Last Updated 27 October 2011