Neighbourhood Teams develop integrated approach to tackle physical inactivity and influence lifestyle changes for residents in Pennine Lancashire

On 7 June 2018 staff from across Pennine Lancashire Integrated Health and Care Partnership came together at Accrington Town Hall to discuss collaborative interventions to improve health, care and support within communities.

The development of neighbourhood teams in Pennine Lancashire will bring health and care services closer to people’s homes. This will help improve how services work together to meet the needs of individuals in their home and community settings.

Information was given to staff about two exciting projects in Pennine Lancashire which aim to improve health outcomes for residents.

Prevention at Scale Pennine Lancashire has been chosen by the Local Government Association to pilot ‘Prevention at Scale’, which started in Blackburn with Darwen from April 2018.  Working with the Clinical Commissioning Group, GP practices and staff using a ‘Making Every Contact Count’ (MECC) approach, the project aims to maximise opportunities within routine health and care interactions for residents to consider what affects their own health and wellbeing and the support that would help them in making positive changes. Training provided for staff highlights the benefits of physical activity and how as frontline staff, they can help in developing residents’ motivation and address the barriers people face in relation to becoming more physically active.

Together an Active Future Pennine Lancashire’s Together an Active Future is one of twelve national pilot areas chosen by Sport England to work on a bold new approach to help people to become more active and feel healthier and happier living and working in Pennine Lancashire.

This pilot is focussing on life events that can impact on peoples physical activity and mental wellbeing and engaging people in understanding their barriers to being more active and support them to remove them.

As the pilot progresses, NHS and Local Authorities will learn how to engage and support people to develop solutions that support them to have an active life in an active community with active family and friends.

Dr Gifford Kerr, Consultant in Public Health for Blackburn with Darwen said:

"These projects present exciting opportunities to make real positive change here in Pennine Lancashire. Shifting the focus to non-clinical interventions, as part of an integrated neighbourhood offer is key to maximising wider health, wellbeing and social benefits. Neighbourhood teams are a vital part of our health and care provision and this event clearly demonstrated how collaboration and integration of organisations and services can improve residents’ health and wellbeing outcomes."

During the second part of the event teams were asked to think about residents who are not currently engaged in services, and how collectively, they could increase the reach of information and support within communities. Interventions and ideas were recorded on how neighbourhood teams can collectively encourage people to make healthy lifestyle choices and enable them to engage in conversations about their health and wellbeing.

The energy and passion in the room was captured on this scribe board by ICE Creates LTD.