Staffordshire Healthy Communities Service

Staffordshire County Council (SCC) wishes to transform its health improvement and lifestyle commissioning model to reduce demand and the flow of Staffordshire citizens into Health and Social Care provision. This will require a focus on maintaining an active and healthy population whilst providing appropriate support to individuals who are over 50 years old, in communities which have the poorest health and are at greatest risk of requiring Health and Social Care.

The Healthy Communities Service will need to build on local assets and skills within the community to help citizens help themselves and one another and connect individuals to wider community networks and programmes. The Healthy Communities Service will: • Deliver assessment/referral training to a wide-range of frontline workers / health professionals. • Provide NHS Health Checks in targeted areas. • Provide behavioural intervention to individuals (50+) from targeted areas and to those identified by risk assessment tools to reduce preventable risk factors that result in poor health e.g. stopping smoking, improving poor diets, increasing physical activity levels and social prescribing aimed at reducing loneliness and social isolation. • Provide bespoke targeted support to individuals who are showing signs of struggling to cope, agreeing support required using an asset-based approach and providing personalised coaching and practical skills to promote independence and resilience e.g. malnutrition and dehydration prevention, home-based activity to increase mobility and ability to maintain activities of daily living, social prescribing and befriending.