The North East and North Cumbria NHS Trust Health Champion programme, hosted by VONNE, is one of nineteen NHS England funded pilots across the country. The aim of the programme is to harness the collective power of local communities through their lived and learned experience, using a peer approach to bust health myths and cascade health messages within the most marginalised communities.
By recruiting Champions from those communities experiencing the worst health outcomes, the project uses assets already in place to tackle healthcare inequalities. Health Champions have access to the most up to date health information and are able to share it where it is needed most, with consistent messaging and in accessible formats.
“We have to change the nature of our conversation and be willing to listen to what our communities are telling us matters to them. Health Champions are vital to changing that conversation.” Dr Guy Pilkington, Chair of the NENC Prevention Board and Healthy Communities and Social Prescribing Steering Group.
On Tuesday 7th March 2023, VONNE hosted an interactive workshop event at the Durham Centre, near Durham City, to share learning and best practice and look at opportunities around the Health Champions project. Over 65 People attended with great representation from the VCSE sector and the NHS across the region. The event featured presentations from Dr Guy Pilkington, Chair of the NENC Prevention Board and Healthy Communities and Social Prescribing Steering Group and Becky James, Health and Wellbeing Programme Manager, Office for Health Inequalities and Disparities and the premier of a video which shares the voices of Health Champions from Gateshead and which highlights the impact of the programme. Watch the video here.
The event also included three ‘world café’ breakout sessions which allowed people to be involved in informal discussion groups around their specific areas of interest within the Health Champion programme. The breakouts covered topics including: learning from Covid and the role of Community Champions, utilising Make Every Contact Count (MECC) and engaging ethnically diverse communities via the champion approach. Much of the discussion focused on the importance, relevance and impact of the project, with people voicing their own impressions and experience. Amanda Buck, the Manager at Breckon Hill Community Centre and Middlesbrough Health Champion, shared what has worked for her:
“Having information from the comms team is superb because it’s current and it’s active. So like the Strep A, we were able to get that information out straight away before all of the social media gossip and fears came up. Absolutely fantastic for us.”
VONNE’s new strategic Health and Wellbeing Lead, Richard Boggie, attended the event and shares his impressions in a blog here.
The project links directly to the NHS Core20Plus5 programme which provides a framework for Integrated Care Systems (ICS) to target the most disadvantaged communities. Lindsey Hall, North East and North Cumbria Health Champion Programme Manager says:
“The National Core20Plus5 Community Connector Programme uses the health champion model to link the NHS with grassroots voluntary sector organisations and communities, listening and investing in their expertise to help shape health services and messaging ensuring the most marginalised communities are reached, having a direct effect on tackling healthcare inequalities in our region.”
Looking ahead, the NENC Health Champion programme will shape a shared set of principles and best practices for use across the North East and Cumbria. Also, based on learning from current champion models in Gateshead and Middlesborough, the programme will support the development of Health Champion models in other local authority areas, adapted to meet local needs. This is all part of the work to embed the champion approach within the Core20plus5 framework as part of an ongoing programme of work across NENC.
For further information about Health Champions and how to get involved contact Lindsey Hall.