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Health partnership gains community empowerment accolade

1 April 2011

 

Health services in Bolton are celebrating after scooping a top award.

NHS Bolton and Bolton CVS won the award for ‘Working in partnership to narrow the gap in health inequalities’ at the Community Empowerment Awards.

The accolade was awarded after the two organisations joined forces to find ways of improving the health of communities who often face more barriers to maintaining a healthy lifestyle or accessing services. 

Both organisations pulled together to develop a three-year plan of action to narrow the gap around health inequalities.

The main aim of the plan was to educate people about specific health conditions and alert them to the early signs and symptoms. This covered areas such as screening for cervical and bowel cancer; self-checking for testicular, prostate, breast and skin cancer; improved mental health and wellbeing; and anti-smoking advice, particularly for those who use shisha.

To do this, specialist community engagement workers were employed to take health messages out into the community using interactive projects, such as using ‘bio-like’ models, which are life-like dolls with hidden lumps in certain areas. Interactive games such as ‘Bowel bingo’, ‘Road to cervical screening’, and ‘Open wide’ were also developed to highlight health issues.

NHS Bolton has since seen an increase in women from black and minority ethnic (BME) communities attending cervical screening.
 
As well as this, more than 1,000 people have now been taught how to check for testicular and breast cancer using ‘bio-like’ models.

And more than 1,100 people have pledged to take on a new hobby to help with mental health and wellbeing.

Lesley Jones, Deputy Director of Public Health at NHS Bolton, said: “I am very proud that our partnership work with Bolton CVS has been recognised in this way. 

“We set out on this project to tackle some very difficult issues with people who traditionally are less likely to take up prevention services. This award is evidence that we have achieved our aims and we did it together.

“It is down to the huge enthusiasm and dedication of everyone involved and we look forward to working together in the future.”

Karen Minnitt, Chief Executive of Bolton CVS, said: “It is wonderful that our very practical and productive partnership work with NHS Bolton has been given such a special award.

"Our Community Engagement Team has worked extremely hard to reach out to people within Bolton and we hope that our joint work with NHS Bolton will help hundreds of local people to live longer and healthier lives as a result.

“We are also delighted that NHS Bolton has provided funding to continue this very effective partnership work and we hope that other areas within Greater Manchester and further afield can learn from what works so well here in Bolton.”