Putting local people in the driving seat and orientating professionals around them to provide local support is a practical approach to addressing some causes of health inequalities, according to a recently published paper.
A paper in the Journal of Integrated Care outlines the Healthy Communities Collaborative method of treating everyone as equal partners with equal weight and importance when aiming to achieve life-changing, sustainable results at the local level.
Jenny Knowles, National Programme Lead for Inequalities at the Improvement Foundation, and article author, said: “Partnership working is vital to addressing health inequalities.
“However, all too often ‘the community’ is a missing element from the partnership. Our Healthy Communities Collaborative model involves working with deprived communities in the improvement of their own health and wellbeing.”
She added: “The latest Health Survey for England highlights that government’s health information is not effectively reaching the public.
“This is where the Healthy Communities Collaborative can really help by getting information directly to people at the ground level and delivered in a way which is more meaningful to them.”
