Use community assets to tackle inequalities, PCNs told

PCNs should be making better use of community assets to tackle health inequalities, clinical directors have been told.

Speaking on championing health equity at Pulse PCN’s Newcastle conference last week (5 September), Dr Toyosi Adeniji, PCN health inequalities lead at The Arc Hub, Northampton, said networks should be more proactive in using existing groups and assets to access ‘hard to reach’ patients.

She said there are many assets healthcare could be partnering with, such as community centres, schools beyond vaccination campaigns, freshers weeks at Universities and faith groups.

‘It’s about changing the narrative for us to go actually into the community,’ she said. ‘Community centres have always got events going on, so have you thought about attending some of these events on a collaboration level, such as having a stand about something you’re offering, running health checks, then signposting to GPs for further interventions,’ she said.

Social media is also a ‘community asset we are not utilising enough’, she added, as it could be a space to collaborate with other communities, such as faith groups.

‘One key thing about social media is about the community building and support where people can share experiences,’ she said. ‘Lived experiences are powerful tools we need to leverage, and it will also lead to real time data in terms of how people are experiencing services.’

This could lead to ideas to better access certain community groups, such as flyers on addressing myths over services, she added.

‘The key thing is about making sure your patients, the community you’re trying to serve, is at the heart of designing whatever interventions you’re about to launch,’ she said.

Delegates also heard that health services need to ‘work differently’ for certain groups of patients who are experiencing severe and multiple disadvantages.

Debbie McKinney, manager of a programme that works with this cohort of patients called Changing Futures at Hull City Council, said it was difficult to get these patients to attend GP appointments, as they are often homeless and struggle with trusting authorities.

‘We’ve got to do things differently to get these people,’ she said. ‘If I’ve got that window of opportunity with a person, we’ve got to be able to get them into a health appointment to do something then and now, otherwise they’ve gone. And sometimes that means jumping the queue.’

She also emphasised the importance of working with community assets.

‘There’s lots of great work that goes on our there, but it’s often missed or in silo or not supported,’ she said.

Also at the event, director of inclusion at the LGBT Foundation, Alex Matheson spoke about the importance of making practices inclusive to LGBT patients, while GP and founder of Greener Practice, Dr Aarti Bansal, spoke about the role PCNs can play in becoming a more sustainable health service.

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