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Health Improvement

Live Well Lanarkshire

The Health Improvement Department in NHS Lanarkshire strives to improve the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities by creating healthier opportunities, as well as addressing underlying influences on health such as poverty, discrimination and social isolation.

Our health is determined by the conditions in which we are born, grow, age, live and work. The right to health includes the right to access health services but also the wide range of things that help us live in good health – the so called ‘social determinants of health’ which includes; safe and affordable housing, access to education and employment, good social support, a decent and fair family income, safer communities and positive childhood experiences.

People growing up in a challenging environment with inadequate income, limited choices and a lack of positive support are more likely to have poorer health outcomes. This can lead to persistent health and social inequalities, which are difficult, but not impossible, to reverse.

NHS Lanarkshire’s Health Improvement Department provides various resources including groups, services and activities to support individuals and communities at every stage of life. These resources are focused around six public health priorities that enable individuals to understand, engage and develop in order to fulfil potential and optimise health for themselves, families and communities.

Working alongside NHS staff, local authorities, and third sector organisations and groups within the community, we address health inequalities and improve the health and wellbeing of the Lanarkshire population, with the most vulnerable communities at the core of our discipline.

Programmes include work and training opportunities to address Poverty, Homelessness, Weight Management, Mental Health & Wellbeing, Health Promoting Health Service, Early Years, Sexual Health and Blood Borne Viruses, Cancer Screening Programmes, Gender-Based Violence and Stop Smoking Services. The team has developed flash reports which summarise achievements and learning from March 2021 to April 2022.

The team also offers a variety of training and learning opportunities aligned to Scotland’s six public health priorities which are available mainly for NHS Lanarkshire staff. 

For details of the Six Public Health Priorities and the associated programmes of work see below:

Public Health Priority 1 – Vibrant, Healthy and Safe Places and Communities

Designing our environment provides opportunities, this priority focuses on developing local approaches to improve people’s health using resources within the community.

The places we live, work and play, the connections we have with each other all have a significant impact on our health and wellbeing.

Our physical environment, social networks, ability to influence decisions that affect us, local economy and accessibility of services are all important.

Connecting with Community Groups

We work in partnership with communities and key agencies such as the Voluntary Sector, NHS, Social Care, Police, Fire and Rescue, Education and Housing services pulling together resources and assets at a community level.

Community led activity based on needs is core to any work that we do.  A holistic approach to supporting communities allows any issues such as poor housing, anti-social behaviour, unemployment etc. to be addressed at a local level. We integrate public service to help build community resilience.

Helpful Resources:

Health Promoting Health Service

Health Promoting Health Service (HPHS) is a settings-based health promotion approach that aims to support the development of a health promoting culture and embed effective health improvement practice.  Some of the areas for delivery for health improvement include: smoking, alcohol, physical activity, active travel, sexual health, mental health and staff health to name a few.

Helpful Resources:

Health Issues in the Community

We work in partnership with communities and key agencies such as the Voluntary Sector, NHS, Social Care, Police, Fire and Rescue, Education and Housing services pulling together resources and assets at a community level.

An example of work delivered is the Health Issues in the Community programme. The course helps people consider what affects their health and the health of their communities. Participants gain a broad understanding of the social model of health, health inequalities, power & participation and community development approaches to health. The end goal is that individuals know how to make change happen in their communities.

Helpful Resources:

Public Health Priority 2 – Early Years/Children

We are working towards a Lanarkshire where we flourish in our early years.

This priority places particular emphasis on our early years, recognising the impact that early childhood poverty, disability and adverse childhood experiences can have on health outcomes throughout a person’s life.

 

Maternal and Infant Nutrition

Maternal and infant Nutrition covers nutritional aspects in many stages of life; from preconception, pregnancy, the postnatal period, breastfeeding and the introduction of solids to toddler nutrition. This includes:

  • Universal Maternal and Infant vitamin scheme
    • Vitamins are free for all pregnant women, women in the postnatal period until their child’s first birthday or for the duration of breastfeeding and vitamin D for all babies from birth until their 3rd birthday
  • Breastfeeding Friendly Scotland
    • A scheme to ensure breastfeeding mothers receive a warm welcoming environment within businesses, buildings and premises by supporting their staff with key messages, window displays and certificates of commitment.
  • Healthy Lifestyle in Pregnancy Service
    • A Service run by a specialist midwife, dietitian and physiotherapist who offer advice on food and drink, good nutrition for baby, exercise in pregnancy and reducing potential pregnancy/labour/postnatal risks for Mum and baby
  • Introduction of solids
    • A suite of videos to support healthy weaning recipes, tips on developmental readiness and the costs of homemade versus commercial foods
  • Promotion of the Best Start Foods scheme to provide eligible beneficiaries with a prepaid card to be used towards healthy foods during pregnancy and for children up to the age of three

Useful Resources

Breastfeeding
NHS Lanarkshire has some of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the UK, steady progress has been made over the past few years in reducing a drop off in women who have decided to breastfeed but there are still barriers for some women in initiating breastfeeding.

NHS Lanarkshire has invested in an “Infant Feeding Team”, which is a specialist team to provide a proactive breastfeeding support service to breastfeeding women and families in Lanarkshire. The team offers a home visiting service to provide breastfeeding support within the Lanarkshire Community and support new mothers in the establishment and continuation of breastfeeding.

This support is in addition to the support provided by the patient’s primary caregiver within the community (Midwife, Health Visitor, and Family Nurse) who retain responsibility for care.

This support ranges from telephone support, home visits, near me video calling and also includes a specialist breastfeeding clinic with a frenotomy (division of tongue-tie) service.

Community Mother Peer Support Volunteer

Our volunteer ‘arm’ has over 15 active members. These are previous or current breastfeeding mothers that have all completed full Breastfeeding and Relationship building training, as well as a period of mentoring alongside the service coordinators and infant feeding advisors. With permission, new mothers can be passed to a volunteer for ongoing support.

Helpful Resources

Parenting
We offer links to both national and local information and services, online courses and groups available for Lanarkshire families and training for staff.

Programmes include:

Supports parents and carers to understand emotional health and wellbeing in the early years children up to adulthood. It is available free online, with courses that parents and carers access in bite-sized 15 – 20 minutes chunks.

These online resources and courses for Lanarkshire families and carers are there to enjoy, and to help you develop as a parent as your family grows.

Is Scotland’s universal early year’s book gifting programme and aims to inspire a love of stories, songs and rhymes from birth. Benefits for babies and young children include supporting children’s language, learning and social skills. The programme and resources are fun, free and simple, and will last their lifetime.

•       Public Health Scotland Play@home Programme

This early years, physical activity programme covers children from birth to five years old, and the resources are gifted to all families from their health visitor, family nurse and early years education practitioner. The aim of the programme is to encourage a physical activity lifestyle by starting early and staying active for life.

•       Scottish Government Play Talk Read Roadshow

This free resource previously brought vehicles full of ideas and play activities to local communities but at present, to help keep everyone safe the PlayTalkRead roadshow has suspended its tour.

Helpful Resources

First Steps
The First Steps programme is designed to reduce inequalities by offering vulnerable pregnant women one-to-one, home-based, intensive support to assist them through their pregnancy and in the early postnatal period. The programme allows flexibility to address the needs of the client.

First Steps Workers (FSWs) are embedded in the midwifery service and primarily work with women from 12 weeks in the antenatal period up until the child is 6 months old. In addition, if a need is identified, FSWs are able to offer a time limited, targeted piece of work to address the specific needs of families out with this age range.

FSWs also offer their client group a variety of group work sessions for example Buggy Walks, Baby Massage, Book Bug, and Healthy Cooking Groups.

Flash Reports

Public Health Priority 3 – Mental Health

We all go through difficult times and it can be a healthy reaction to feel negative emotions when facing challenges. There are lots of ways you can find more help and support if you are struggling with your mental wellbeing.

It’s ok to feel this way, and talking can help. For tips on how to look after your mental health and wellbeing visit:

There are also various resources and means of support available in Lanarkshire:

Good Mental Health for All
Good Mental Health for All (GMHFA) focuses on reducing the social, financial and cultural barriers which make it harder for some people to make use of opportunities to enhance their mental health and wellbeing.

GMHFA local action alongside communities they support.

This work forms part of the Lanarkshire Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy, and covers six priority areas:

  1. Mentally Healthy Infants, Children and Young People
  2. Mentally Healthy Later Life
  3. Mentally Healthy Environments and Communities
  4. Mentally Healthy Employment
  5. Reducing the Prevalence of Suicide, Self-Harm, Distress and Common Mental Health Problems
  6. Improving the Quality of Life of Those Experiencing Mental Health Problems

The GMHFA pulls together the huge amount of work going on across both Community Planning Partnerships on influencing the wider determinants of mental health and wellbeing and promoting early intervention/preventive approaches.

Helpful Resources

Lanarkshire Mind Matters

  • Lanarkshire Mind Matters is a  website produced by NHS Lanarkshire’s psychological services. It aims to link adults aged 18 and over to evidence-based mental health information, advice and help. This includes computerised cognitive behavioural therapy (cCBT), with quick access to self-referral courses

Elament – eLanarkshire Mental Health Resources

  • Elament is Lanarkshire’s first stop for online mental health and wellbeing information, providing to support people seeking assistance with mental health problems. There are four sections:
  • Support for Adults
  • Support for Young People
  • Support for Parents & Carers
  • Support for Professionals and Training
Lanarkshire Mind Matters

Calm Distress is a new online course from NHS Lanarkshire Psychological Services, designed for you to use in your own time and at your own pace. It is all about understanding emotions and improving wellbeing, during Covid-19 and beyond.

The pandemic means NHS staff can’t run classes or groups in the community like we used to – but we can provide high-quality psychological help online via our Lanarkshire Mind Matters website.

Over five friendly sessions, Calm Distress will help you open up to day-to-day stress, recognise your warning signs, and learn new ways to cope with difficult thoughts and feelings. Each Calm Distress video is about 20 minutes long, giving you lots of useful information in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. There are also booklets to go alongside the videos, which you can download and dip into if you wish: do it how you feel it works for you.

You can access Calm Distress through Lanarkshire Mind Matters online.

Register online and you will sent be sent a password to access the course. You can then keep coming back to it as often as you like.

Well Connected
Well Connected is Lanarkshire’s Social Prescribing programme that makes it easier for us to take part in & benefit from activities & services we know improve our wellbeing.

The Well Connected programme has been shown to help people by:

  • Improving self-confidence & self-esteem
  • Reducing low mood
  • Reduce feelings of stress
  • Helping people deal with some of the problems that are causing low mood such as money worries, loneliness & unemployment
  • Helping people develop positive ways of coping with the challenges of life
  • Increasing opportunities for social contact
  • Learning new & useful skills
  • Improving community spirit
  • Increasing the number of people taking part in arts, leisure, education, volunteering, sports & other activities

There are eight Well Connected areas that people can benefit from:

  • Physical Activity & Leisure opportunities including Greenspace & walking
  • Healthy Reading
  • Employment
  • Volunteering
  • Lifelong Learning
  • Benefits, Debt & Welfare
  • Arts & Culture
  • Stress Control via Calm Distress

Well Connected Programme.

There is a Well Connected App that is free to download on the App Store & Google Play.

Stigma Free Lanarkshire
Challenging mental health stigma and discrimination is at the heart of Lanarkshire’s Mental Health Strategy.

Stigma Free Lanarkshire’s programme of activity has been effectively embedded across Lanarkshire’s Mental Health Strategy, Good Mental Health for All (North and South Lanarkshire’s framework for collective action on promoting mental health improvement) and in the North and South Lanarkshire Suicide Prevention Action Plans.

Tackling stigma and discrimination is key to creating the best conditions for mental wellbeing, preventive action and early intervention. It’s also key for delivering personalised support, care and treatment and for promoting recovery. When mental health stigma and discrimination are removed people feel valued, included and respected. They have better access to, and experience of services and supports, and they achieve the outcomes that are important to their lives and recovery. In short, we cannot talk about mental health without addressing the stigma that often surrounds it.

A specialist team, Stigma Free Lanarkshire (SFL) in partnership with NHS Lanarkshire and See Me, Scotland’s National organisation for challenging mental health stigma and discrimination, have been working tirelessly on an ambitious programme of work.

SFL aims to grow a Lanarkshire ‘Movement for Change’ to empower people with lived experience of mental health issues and support organisations across all sectors to take collective action to end mental health stigma and discrimination.

The programme encompasses work across four key areas:

  • Health and Social Care
  • Education and Young People
  • Communities
  • Workplaces

More Stigma Free Lanarkshire information.

If you would like to know more about the national See Me programme.

Flash Reports

Please see flash reports below which summarise achievements and learning from April 2022 to March 2023. Contact names are on each report for further detail if required.

Public Health Priority 4 – Tobacco & Drugs/Alcohol

You can improve your health, boost your energy and even save money by cutting back on alcohol and stopping smoking and drugs.

We play a key role in supporting people to quit smoking with our free Quit Your Way stop smoking service. We also work with partners to prevent people from starting to drink, smoke and take drugs, as well as promoting safe levels of drinking.

Quit Your Way - Free stop smoking service

Giving up smoking is not something you have to do on your own, Quit Your Way is a free NHS stop smoking service available in Lanarkshire to help you succeed.

There are a variety of free stop smoking options available, and our helpful advisers are here to support you every step of the way.

Get Started

Quit Your Way can be contacted Monday – Friday from 9am until 5pm.

For more information, call 0800 84 84 84 or visit NHS Inform’s Quit Your Way website.

You can now use our ‘Click to be Contacted’ service, select your local or nearest area, leave your name, preferred contact method, and we will be in touch with you.

You can also visit your local Community Pharmacy for free stop smoking support. Find your nearest community pharmacy.

Protection and Prevention 

Alongside supporting people to quit smoking, the team also develop initiatives and programmes to protect children, adults and pets from second-hand smoke and support environments where children and young people chose not to smoke and don’t see adults smoking. 

Projects such as Jenny and the Bear, Positive Smoke-free Role Models and Not a Favour all contribute to protection and prevention. 

Alcohol/Drugs

Health Improvement focuses on preventing and reducing alcohol related harm and work in partnership with the North and South Lanarkshire Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) and wider partners using a collaborative approach that aims to reduce alcohol consumption and the risk of alcohol related harms across Lanarkshire.

We play a key role in working with partners to prevent people from starting to drink as well as promoting safe levels of drinking. If this work identifies people who require contact with support services they can facilitate them getting support to reduce their drinking.

We provide Alcohol Brief Intervention training across Lanarkshire to a variety of service providers to equip them with the knowledge and skills to identify problem drinking and there are a number of services and resources available that focus on addressing alcohol-related harms.

Helpful Resources

Flash Reports

Please see flash reports below which summarise achievements and learning from April 2022 to March 2023. Contact names are on each report for further detail if required.

Public Health Priority 5 – Inclusion and Equality

The Inclusion and Equality team creates opportunities for all people, families and communities and groups in Lanarkshire by developing initiatives and programmes which work towards a sustainable, inclusive economy with equality outcomes for all.

Our health is linked to our ability to participate fully in society and having the resources or the social connections to do so will prevent exclusion and isolation within Lanarkshire.

Keep Well

 

‘Keep Well commits to empower and inspire those who experience health inequalities to improve their health and wellbeing’

The team engage with people who experience health inequalities and are at more risk of poorer physical health and mental wellbeing.

Individuals from targeted groups aged 16 years and over are offered support with health behaviour change, goal setting and lifestyle modifications in order to improve health outcomes.

For more information or to contact the team:

Health and Homelessness

We work with our local authority, third sector providers and other partners to support the health needs of people at risk of or experiencing homelessness with a particular focus on early intervention, prevention and those with complex needs.

Useful resources:

North Lanarkshire

South Lanarkshire

Sexual Health

The Blood Borne Virus and Sexual Health (BBV&SH) Promotion Team deliver prevention activities, services and education programmes to reduce inequalities, support the delivery of the National Sexual Health and BBV Framework and the Pregnancy and Parenthood in Young People (PPYP) Strategy, in response to local need.

Condom provision is designed to help reduce the spread of HIV, other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and blood borne viruses (BBVs) and the number of unintended pregnancies. Free condoms are supplied locally in Lanarkshire via the universal C Card Scheme and Just Ask Service. Lanarkshire residents can also receive Condoms by Post, delivered directly and discreetly to their home address. Details of these services can be found on the Lanarkshire sexual health website.

The team strive to provide accurate and reliable online and downloadable information about relationships, sex, sexual health, wellbeing and services for the population of Lanarkshire. Topics include; Sexual Health and Relationships Education, Blood Borne Viruses, Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood Education in schools, LGBTI Identities, Sexting, OnlyFans.

Useful Resources

Poverty

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, people in poverty had already been pushed into unacceptable hardship. Compassion has been at the heart of our response to the pandemic, when it is over we know that poverty will not be over for many people. It has highlighted just how much we need others to get by and the crucial role of cleaners, carers, shop workers, delivery drivers and others in low-paid, often insecure work.

We will continue to do right by each and every person in Lanarkshire and ensure the hardest hit are not plunged deeper into hardship.

There is strong evidence that people of low income have poorer physical and mental health than more affluent people.

Working with partners and using our position as an anchor institution, we can contribute to tackling poverty and the development of an inclusive and sustainable economy for all people in Lanarkshire.

Health Improvement has been working with partners to tackle poverty across different cross-cutting themes:

1- NHS Staff, Fair Work and Employability

2- Inclusive sustainable economy and anchor institutes

3- Workforce Development, Routine Enquiry, Pathways, Communications and Stigma

4- Child Poverty. Period Poverty, Fuel poverty, Food Poverty, Funeral poverty, Digital Exclusion

5- Building Community Resilience

Useful resources:

South Lanarkshire

North Lanarkshire

Employability

Supporting people into fair, sustainable jobs is central to delivering an inclusive, sustainable economy with health and wellbeing at its core. Employability services are pivotal to avoiding the widening of social and economic inequalities by supporting those who are most vulnerable to disadvantage which has been worsened further by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Local Employability Partnerships (LEP) were set up to enhance local partnership working and ensuring that the right support is put into place for those who require these services. The LEP, North and South, is the vehicle for our employability work and oversight is provided by Community Planning Partnerships.

As a member of the Local Employability Partnership, North and South, health improvement are committed to the following:

  • Employability becomes a priority across Lanarkshire
  • Employability services staff are supported to improve the health and wellbeing needs of their clients
  • Ensuring employability staff and service providers are linked into local communities
  • Contribute to and deliver on LEP checklist (North and South)
  • Promote the use of Client Support Toolkit with employability partners
  • Support the Rollout of the Care Academy
  • Enhance the contribution NHS Lanarkshire, as an anchor organisation, makes to employability

The following are links to the main policies and local support services for the public:

Screening
Gender-Based violence
Refugees, asylum seekers and displaced people

There are a growing number of people resettling in Lanarkshire from various other countries, and increasingly it is as a result of conflict or challenging circumstances in their own country. We are working with local authority, third sector providers and other partners to support the health needs of these people. Many will have a range of complex social, emotional, and health needs due to being displaced from their homes, or separation from their families and may have suffered trauma.

We will work to ensure that health care services and supports are accessible and available in formats and settings that are culturally sensitive, and take in to consideration the need for advice and guidance in other languages.

Helpful Resources

Flash Reports

Please see flash reports below which summarise achievements and learning from April 2022 to March 2023. Contact names are on each report for further detail if required.

Public Health Priority 6 – Nutrition, Healthy Weight and Physical Activity

Being physically active and eating a healthy balanced diet are important for not only our physical health, but also our emotional and mental health. Lanarkshire’s Weight Management Service offers expert and practical advice to anyone who requires support to lead a healthier lifestyle.

NHS Lanarkshire Weight Management Service offers free support for people, by helping them to design their own healthier lifestyle. We can help you to access the different types of free physical activity and healthy weight services available in Lanarkshire.

Adult Healthy Weight

Green Health

Mental Health and Wellbeing

Physical Activity

Child/Young Person Healthy Weight

Diet & Nutrition

Oral Health

The Oral Health Improvement Programme (OHIP) consists of a variety of projects, public awareness campaigns & educational programmes. The overall aim is to improve the oral health of individuals and their families, through prevention initiatives.

The OHIP objectives are:

Prevention

  • Increase awareness of the detrimental effects that alcohol, tobacco, and a diet high in sugar, can have on oral health.
  • Promotion of self-examination of the mouth to improve mouth cancer survival rates.

Reducing Oral Health Inequalities

  • Target areas of deprivation to make sure that everyone, no matter where they live, can have the best oral health.
  • Support third sector organisations with funding and partnership work on oral health improvement programmes.

Improving Information for Patients

  • Provision of clear advice for people on dental treatments available, the location of general dental practices and benefits advice in relation to dental treatment.

Support

  • Patients should always contact their own dental practice for advice. During out-of-hours, patients with urgent dental problems should continue to contact NHS 24 on 111.
  • Please visit your dental practice’s website or social media channels for updates.
  • If you are not registered with a dentist, please call the NHS Lanarkshire General Enquiry line on 0300 3030 243 for a list of local dentists. Out of normal working hours you should contact NHS 24 on 111.
  • Latest information on accessing dental services.

Helpful Resources

Follow NHS Lanarkshire’s Health Improvement social media channels:

Near Me Lanarkshire