178 The Healthy Living Clinic commenced in September 2001 and is a free drop in
clinic that has operated on a weekly basis where a qualified practice nurse provides blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar monitoring, and height/weight assessment for indications of obesity. Advice is provided on healthy eating and exercise and a wide range of leaflets and information is available. The practice nurse will refer the client to their GP or another agency if the health screening identifies anything that requires further investigation.
The Healthy Lifestyle Clinic is based in a central location easy to pop into when doing other business in town. The clinic offers an informal non medical setting where appointments are not necessary and time is available to discuss problems. The clinic has been well used since its inception providing a free service that is much needed in an area of deprivation.
Support: The Healthy Lifestyle Clinic commenced in September 2001 through funding from New Opportunities, a further three years funding was granted on the basis of the success of the project from the Northern Rock Foundation. Trigger: The Borough of Copeland is in the most deprived local authority list, unemployment is high and the area faces an uncertain economic future. Case studies and statistics show the effectiveness of ‘The Healthy Life Style Clinic’ in early detection of problems such as cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes and heart problems from the subsequent referrals to GP’s. The literature and advice given at the clinic aims to promote good health and wellbeing among all local people, often resulting in users linking up to other services within the centre such as smoking cessation, menopause workshops and counselling which meets the aims of the project to empower local people to take responsibility for their own health and wellbeing and to reduce social exclusion and health inequalities through the provision of a free service which also encourages social integration. Targeted Communities: The clinic provides a service to anyone who attends the clinic however we promote and target the service in the areas of most deprivation through local groups and other organisations working in the areas of
deprivation. We ask all service users to provide us with a postcode on the register so that we can analyse the areas that our clients live to ensure that the service is meeting the needs of the deprived communities in the area.
Evaluation: The project has been carefully monitored throughout, on uptake and client profile and continues to be well used with the attendance figures for 2009, in the first 10 months, seeing 428 clients attending the clinic and could well exceed 500 by the end of the year. A comprehensive review is undertaken as the period comes to end on the monitoring data and through undertaking case studies on clients who attended with the outcomes both of which indicate that the project is successful in meeting a community need.
The health of the people in Copeland has improved since the project was set up but is still generally worse than the England average with death from early heart disease and stroke being a major problem (Copeland Health Profile-The Association of Public Health Observatories 2008). There are health inequalities by gender and level of deprivation, with both men and women from the most deprived area having a nearly seven year shorter life span than those from the least deprived areas ((Copeland Health Profile-The Association of Public Health Observatories 2008).
As there has been a move towards better health in the area and our clinic has been successful in providing a service that identifies the major causes of early death from heart disease and stroke, the Trust feels that the evidence gathered shows the effectiveness of the service in contributing to the improvement of the health of the community in which it serves.
Contact Details:
Kerry Maxwell
The Whitehaven Community Trust +44 1946 590 590
179
The Chai Centre is a new initiative that has proved a massive success with the community. By providing several services, it aims to improve health and quality of life and to reduce health inequalities.
Aim & Objectives: The Centre aims to improve the health and quality of life of individuals and communities in Daneshouse & Stoneyholme, and reduce health inequalities, this area being amongst the most deprived wards in the country. Design: The project is a community-led initiative that started in 2004. It was a new initiative that has proved a massive success with the community. The Chai Centre is a combined Sure Start Children’s Centre and Healthy Living Centre, located in the Daneshouse and Stoneyholme area of Burnley.
Services include:
Children’s Centre services, including group sessions and family support Café Culture (open to the public)
Gym (membership open to the public) Exercise classes
Sauna and Steam Room Little Acorns Day Nursery Ante-natal care (by appointment) North Health Visiting Team
Women’s health clinic (by appointment) Complementary therapies (by appointment) Welfare Rights advice (by appointment) Smoking Cessation (by appointment) Opportunities for volunteering
Soups and Salads project (healthy eating and cooking skills, by appointment)
Benefits to the community include:
A healthy living/well-being centre that offers comprehensive services run by staff based on site or other services hosted by the centre that tackle the wider determinants of health
Volunteering and employment opportunities A neutral venue for all sections of the community Benefits to individuals include improvements in:
Employment and job opportunities Parenting skills
Health of children Access to services Fitness levels
Healthy eating and cooking skills Social networks
Mental well-being and stress management
Physical health indicators such as weight management and blood pressure Support: The Daneshouse Economic Development Trust - DCEDT (a community organisation) came up with the idea and approached East Lancashire NHS (then Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale Primary Care Trust) who agreed to work in partnership and became the accountable body. Other agencies involved included; New Opportunities Fund (Big Lottery Fund); Bradford & Northern Housing; Daneshouse & Stoneyholme Sure Start & Burnley Borough Council. The financial support initially came from Burnley Borough Council and Bradford & Northern Housing then proceeded with funding from the Big Lottery Fund – Healthy Living Centre Initiatives and East Lancashire NHS. The project has now
The Chai Centre
180 come to the end of its Big Lottery Funding and has recently been mainstreamed
by East Lancashire NHS.
Trigger: As above, the idea for the centre was community led and thought up by the community organisation (DCEDT) who identified the opportunity while considering the needs of the local community that were not being met.
The community consultation supported the identified need and was linked to the evidence base through various statistics such as census and public health data which clearly portrayed the poor health of the residents in the ward.
The project was chosen because it was innovative and able to target those communities most in need by delivering healthy living and well-being services on resident’s door steps.
Targeted Communities: Anyone interested in using the centre or accessing our services is welcome; however, we specifically target residents living in our ward. Evaluation: An end of funding Big Lottery evaluation was performed which described the success of the Chai Centre. In the future, the café will continue to offer its services and the gym and physical activity facilities are expanding to allow more people to access those. A wider variety of activities will be provided within the expanded facilities to include weekend activities in an attempt to target more family units to access the centre together.
Contact Details:
Kate Reid l Sajda Majeed East Lancashire NHS +44 1282 657 395
[email protected] [email protected]
This project was an initiative of the London Irish Centre to increase the health of the older and disadvantaged Irish Communities living in London.
Aim & Objectives: The Irish Healthy Living project was set up to increase the health and health awareness of the older and disadvantaged Irish Community in London.
Design: The project was initiated by the London Irish Centre in 2003. It is based in the London Irish Centre, which is the largest Irish Centre in London and has been in existence for 54 years. This location was chosen since the London Irish Centre has a good reputation among the Irish community.
The Initiative provides a range of services that aim to improve from physical and mental health, through engaging clients in activities which they enjoy, e.g. allotment project and providing a safe and supportive environment e.g. literacy and numeracy project.. Other activities include: advice, volunteering, missing persons, survivors service, day centre activities and lunch club.
Support: The Centre received a five years funding from the BIG Lottery fund (i.e. the National Lottery). Furthermore, Camden Primary Care Crust is providing interim funding.
Partners of the Irish Healthy Living Project are the Irish Centre Housing (ICH), Kasiros, ICAP, High & Dry social club, and Job Powerhouse.
Trigger: Several reports found that the Irish in England have a shorter life expectancy in the host country and access medical services to a lesser degree than the host population. As a general rule migrants live longer in the new host country – this is not so in the case of the Irish.