Location
Years
2008- 2013
Activity
The Healthy Communities Collaborative uses a community action model to identify health topics and build joint activity between professionals and community members.
We developed teams of local people in low-income areas that were responsible for the identification and targeting of priority groups in their communities.
Through a range of creative, fun activities in community settings, we then raised awareness and educated local people about earlier recognition and presentation of symptoms of cancer or cardiovascular disease.
We tested, learned and improved during action periods, interspersed with learning workshops.
Impact
In three low-income wards, increased cancer referrals for upper gastro-intestinal cancer by 43% (compared to city average of 12%), for lung cancer by 40% (compared to city average of 33%) and for bowel cancer by 27% (compared to city average of 10%).
Subsequently, in 19 general practices across five wards, the increase in diagnoses with no spread was: 27.2% (bowel cancer); 13% (breast cancer); and 13% (lung cancer).
For cardiovascular disease, 30.3% of people engaged were referred for assessment and management. In one year, this meant an additional 700 cardiovascular checks, in comparison to the previous year.
Funded by
