PCN inclusion health pop up draws in 7,500 people

A PCN health and wellbeing event aimed at engaging inclusion health groups was attended by 7,500 people in Barking and Dagenham.

The borough-wide pop up, held at local leisure centre Barking Sporthouse in February, featured 40 organisations including voluntary sector, community groups and the local trust, with services like hairdressing, children’s activities and food available for attendees.

All six Barking and Dagenham PCNs, which are managed by GP Federation Together First took part in the event.

Services such as height and weight measurements for children, mental health support and social prescribing were available. Each PCN GP lead led a session on a different health area for patients, including frailty, diabetes and cardiovascular health. There was also an opportunity for patients to speak to a GP about individual health concerns, including women’s health, and dental teams were also present.

Dr Shanika Sharma, clinical programme director of health inequalities programme in Barking and Dagenham, east London, said after learning from previous pop up events those in inclusion groups, such as people who experience homelessness, want other needs met before they start to talk about their health.

‘We’ve done a series of pop-up events because what we realised was that these inclusion groups are not very forthcoming to primary care. So, we started to go out to them,’ said Dr Sharma, who is also chair of GP Federation Together First.

‘When they did these pop ups, seeing a GP wasn’t the first thing these individuals wanted. They wanted to be showered, fed, have their hair done and then have a conversation about health.’

The same was true for the event on 22 February, as ‘the longest queues were for the hairdresser’, said Dr Sharma.

‘It was really nice to meet and interact with people that might not be forthcoming,’ she added. ‘It was raining, literally chucking it down, but there were people queueing outside.’

The PCN packaged the day as a health and wellbeing community event, rather than a GP-led event, in order to try and encourage more patients to come.

The event was funded by the ICB with additional funding from the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.

Dr Sharma added that there was a ‘buzz in the air’ among those there, particularly staff.

‘I’ve never experienced anything like that,’ she said. ‘Everybody was just so happy with how the event turned out.

‘There’s collaboration all around, I’m constantly being approached by GP trainees and medical students saying can we get involved in this work because it’s actually helping to bring back joy into the workplace.’

The PCN has also done work on vaccination uptake among the Gypsy Romanian community, including working with local voluntary groups to do outreach.

Funding for the PCN’s health inequalities strategy has been provided through the ICB for another three years.

‘The ICB have kindly secured another three years so we can continue to build on this and learn from things that are working and not working,’ she added.