Working With the Community, In the Community
Gateshead’s population totals approximately 190,000 individuals living in 84,000 households. The office of the deputy prime minister identifies the North East as the least healthy area in England overall with higher levels of mortality and significant localisation of particularly poor health in disadvantaged urban and rural areas.
The index of multiple deprivation indicate that nearly half the population of Gateshead fall within the top 20% most deprived areas, showing it as among the 88 most deprived local authority areas in England. Government neighbourhood figures for economic deprivation in Gateshead show that 21% of people of working age are claiming key benefits compared to 14% across England. Of the people claiming key benefits 13% of people of working age are claiming incapacity benefit compared to England’s average of 7%. This 13% can be further broken down to reveal claimants suffer 41% mental disorders, 5% diseases of the nervous system, 7% diseases of the circulatory system, 20% musculoskeletal diseases, 6% injury or poisoning and 21% for other reasons.
These figures give indication of the economic burden associated with health problems facing residents in Gateshead and show the need for appropriate coping strategies to be in place to enable better health management within deprived communities.
In 2005 the Prince of Wales commissioned the Smallwood Report looking at the contribution complementary therapies can potentially make to the delivery of healthcare in the UK. This report examined evidence relating to the effectiveness and associated costs of complementary therapies to assess their ability to meet effectiveness gaps in current provision of health-care by the NHS.
Overall the report identified a large number of patients who saw their general health and wellbeing improve after the introduction of CAM into the package of treatments available. Significant long term benefits of CAM to people with low income and poor health were more marked, with emotional and psychological problems improving along with patient’s approaches to lifestyle and looking after their own health. Case studies within the report identified the potential for significant cost savings to the NHS and Department of Health associated to the prevention of illness and the burden of complex and chronic diseases.
In 2003 Newcastle PCT together with Health Action Zone set up a CAM service funded by the NHS in West Newcastle to address local health needs. Although funding was reallocated to other services in 2004 the findings of CAM provision alone show valuable savings in primary and secondary care in conventional medicine “overall GP consultations fell by 31%. Extrapolating this percentage to all patients in the trials would represent a reduction in consultations of 666 per year, with an associated cost saving of £10,000 for the 650 patients in the pilot” (Smallwood 2005 ).
This assessment of potential savings was also found through research of the Getwell UK project carried out at Laurels Healthy Living Centre in Haringey. GP’s involved with the project reported that in cases where progress through conventional medicine had proven difficult or ineffective, CAM intervention had reduced demand on their time. Patients participating in the project reported highly significant improvement in their perceptions of health and wellbeing after CAM treatment, with three quarters experiencing an overall improvement in their symptoms.
No health organisation within the North East offers patients the opportunity to engage in peer group health education alongside CAM therapeutic treatments; indicating that the Holistic Health Clinic (HHC) fills a unique niche in creating community cohesion through patient centred health management.
Centres such as West End Health Resource and the Search Project , working in the East and West of Newcastle, provide health promoting activities and services for the elderly and people living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. These centres give residents the opportunity to meet with advisors and discuss many aspects of daily living which may be of concern to them; however the provision of specific holistic health mentoring is not offered as a primary resource for community health education, development and renewal.
The office of the deputy Prime Minister has highlighted a national strategy action plan to narrow the gap between the most deprived areas and the rest, so that within 10-20 years, no one is seriously disadvantaged by where they live. The plan emphasises the importance of integrating health inequalities into the mainstream of service delivery, with a focus on disadvantaged areas and groups.
HHC believes, in line with Community Action on Health (CAH) and Gateshead Strategic Partnership (GSP) that the service it proposes offers a valuable contribution to achieving this aim by working from the grass roots to bring a new sense of community health and ownership among residents in Gateshead’s deprived neighbourhoods. This view encompasses some of the key themes set out in the GSP Community Strategy 2004
• Local people living longer and healthier lives
• Local people who learn throughout their lives and have the life skills to realise their full potential as individuals and active citizens
• Local people supported by a network of care service appropriate to their needs and wishes
HHC’s belief in community engagement and development as a vision for the future is congruent with GSP vision as it puts community health interests’ first, enabling disadvantage to be overcome and health improved by ensuring that local needs and ideas are paramount in achieving better outcomes for people and places
The Department of Health, Health Inequalities Unit place communities at the heart of improving health if challenges faced are to be tackled effectively' and Local Strategic Partnerships highlight that any move toward equal opportunities, promotion of personal wellbeing, social cohesion and inclusion must be sustainable if a strong healthy community is to be ensured.
The diverse needs of all people in Gateshead’s more deprived communities must be met if the Sustainable Communities Strategy objectives of local people reaching their full potential and enjoying the best quality of life are to be realised.
Sustainable development is the core principle underpinning HHC which aims to deliver a sustainable, innovative and productive service promoting social inclusion, sustainable communities and personal wellbeing in a way that enhances the social and economic environment.
HHC provides a vehicle for considering and deciding how to address difficult cross cutting health issues by building community vision in an integrated way as the heart of creating sustainable development at the local level