The Coventry Local Health Link Workers scheme

1
The Coventry Local Health Link Workers scheme

• A presentation for the URB_Health peer review
  workshop
• By Rebecca Blyth
• Budapest
• 27 September 30 September 2006

2
Presentation overview

• Project background
• The scheme in Coventry
• Local Health Link Workers in action
• Impact and results so far
• The future

3
The city of Coventry

• Coventry has 31 priority neighbourhoods
  experience significant levels of deprivation,
  ranging in top 10 and 20 across England as a
  whole
• Coventrys 6 Health Action Areas (1996)
  experience worse health outcomes and poverty
  scores, and make up 25 of the citys population
• Coventrys population is circa 300,000
• 7.6 of the population of Coventry are South
  Asian and 2.0 are African Caribbean

4
Local Health Link Workers

• 35 recruited from across the 6 Health Action
  Areas since November 2004
• 8 men, 27 women
• 2 Afro-Caribbean, 3 African, 8 of Asian origin,
  15 white British
• Age range 22 56
• 1 physical and 1 learning disability
• 2 week core training programme, bespoke
  additional training plus NVQ Level 2 in Customer
  Services

5
Coventrys Local Health Link Workers have diverse
cultural, ethnic and ability backgrounds
6
The role of the Local Health Link Worker

• Sign post to services and social care agencies
• Accompany to appointments where necessary
• Act as a bridge and facilitate communication
  between local communities and health and social
  care providers
• Health Promotion (5 a day, smoking cessation,
  obesity)
• Encourage uptake of e.g. flu vaccination,
  screening etc.

7
Placements wide range of health, educational
and social welfare settings

• Sure Start and Early Years nurseries
• Primary schools
• Extended secondary schools
• Health Centres and GP surgeries, sexual health
  clinics
• Community Nutritionists
• YMCA
• Youth Offending Service
• Healthy Walks scheme
• Older peoples community mental health
• Refugee Centre
• New Deals for Communities
• Access to health services review

8
Ferdosh promoting the local flu campaign in a
local bingo hall

9
All the Local Health Link Workers are involved
with healthy walks in their own communities
10
Althia has extensive experience of local
community involvement and has been working as a
Local Health Link Worker at Sure Start

11
Jassi, Jaspreet, Parveen and Shazia promoting
their role and healthy eating at a local health
fair
12
Ferdosh works with a wide range of ethnic ladies
as part of her work encouraging ladies to attend
the Well Womens clinic

13
Some results so far

• Increase of between 2 5 uptake of flu vaccine
  where the Local Health Link Workers are active
• 2 child protection issues and 2 issues of
  domestic violence uncovered
• Increased awareness of health care services and
  screening through local temples and mosques and
  social settings
• Local Health Link Workers involved with smoking
  cessation and healthy diet and eating programmes
  in all areas
• The Local Health Link Worker project won the HSJ
  award for Reducing Health Inequalities in
  November 2005.

14
Future plans

• Future career plans for the Local Health Link
  Workers themselves are developing
• Nursing
• Dietetics
• Health Promotions
• Teaching
• Some of the Local Health Link Workers will
  metamorphose into the new government NHS Trainer
  roles

15
Patricia Hewitt MPSecretary of State for Health

• Coventry PCT have proved themselves to be right
  at the forefront of the transformation taking
  place in the NHS
• Coventry Evening Telegraph 04/01/06