10/11/2023
Connected Bradford Community Health Checks
As we countdown to the HSJ Awards in November, we wanted to give an overview of how the project came about, what we have accomplished so far, and what the future holds.
In November 2022 our Clinical Leadership Fellow Ciaran O'Neill began work on seeing how we could support our community after anecdotal evidence from clinical staff and the community indicated poorer cardiovascular outcomes from ethnic minority communities.
Research suggested cardiovascular disease (CVD) disproportionately affects those from the poorest communities; those from the most socio-economically deprived communities are more than four times more likely to die prematurely from CVD.
Local data from Connected Bradford showed that a large proportion of our population (14/30 wards) falls into the CORE20plus5 criteria and in some areas of Bradford we have some of the worst outcomes from CVD nationally.
The ambition was to improve the long-term health of the population, by identifying individuals with hypertension and diabetes early on. Through this we could also better understand the challenges and barriers to CVD health, and how we could better work with local organisations to support our communities.
Between December and January we developed connections within the PCN, VCSE organisations, and community leaders. This led to the first community co-developed health check event being held where 103 people attended, of whom:
- 61% of participants had an abnormal blood pressure;
- 3 participants were subsequently diagnosed with hypertension
- 3 participants were subsequently diagnosed with Type-2 diabetes
Using rapid qualitative evaluation techniques, based on Stanford University’s Lightning Report we were able to gather feedback and adapt the approach for future health check events. And using Connected Bradford we are able to track longer-term outcomes to evaluate the project and its impact on the health of our communities.
Building on the success of the first event, we have held a further two events across Bradford with tremendous support from the community.
Since we’ve started the programme, we have held three events, which have been attended by over 200 people! Through this we have began to:
a. understand the health needs of the community;
b. increase awareness of cardiovascular health through co-produced communication strategies, including a podcast;
c. develop strong ties with the community and so many amazing and supportive organisations and individuals.
Thinking forward, and building the team’s amazing achievement of being one of 200 submissions shortlisted for the HSJ_Awards, we are looking to further promote the spread and adoption of community-based health checks, working with existing and new partners.
A huge thank you to everyone involved for your support and commitment to the project!
