August 2014 - Issue 4 Health Checks Training Health Promotion Devon will be delivering health Welcome to the fourth edition of the NHS Health checks training in 2014/15. The following FREE training Checks Devon Newsletter. This newsletter is issued sessions are available for staff delivering health checks - quarterly and gives an informative update on issues please contact [email protected] to book relating to the NHS Health Check programme in Devon. your place: If you would like to receive regular copies of this news- letter, or have any feedback, please use the contact Date Time Venue details on page 4 to get in touch. Wed. 22nd 09:00 – Kingskerswell Health Centre, School October 13:00 Road, Kingskerswell, TQ12 5DJ Health Checks News Wed. 26th 09:00 – Crown Yealm House, Pathfields November 13:00 South Molton, EX36 3LH NHS Health Checks Year 2 is Underway! Year 2 of the NHS Health Checks programme in Devon Further free e-training courses and tools for profession- has got off to a great start! 20,635 health checks have als delivering health checks are also available online. now been delivered and 45,148 have been offered These include: across the county. This means that 8.35% of the eligible The Dementia Training Tool addresses the dementia population have now received their check. aspect of the health check, including self-assessment Uptake rates have rapidly improved since the start of section and completion certificate. the programme. In the last two quarters, uptake has The Alcohol Identification and Brief Advice e-learning reached 56% and 54% respectively. This is great pro- course provides professionals with support to deliver gress towards the national aspiration of achieving 66% simple alcohol identification and brief advice. uptake by April 2015. Please remember to only record The Behaviour Change and Motivational Interviewing the offer once - even if the initial offer is then followed e-learning resource helps professionals support pa- up by a text or phone call - or this will effect our uptake tients with behaviour and lifestyle change. rates across the county. Breaking Free Online Public Health Devon commissions an award-winning, computerised treatment programme for patients with drug and alcohol difficulties. This service compliments the NHS Health Check, and is available for GPs in Devon to provide to their patients for free. Providing this service to your patients is very simple. Email: [email protected] or phone 0161 834 4647 Breaking Free will issue your practice with log-in cards which provide individual access codes for your patients. www.breakingfreeonline.com FEATURED SERVICE 1 % Offered NHS Health Check by Locality, 2014-15 (cumulative) Programme Progress 100% 90% Quarter 1, Year 2 80% The NHS Health Checks programme has got off to a great start in year 2, 70% with 8.35% of the eligible popula- 60% tion having now received their 50% health check. 40% Uptake rates have improved rapidly 30% since the start of the programme. eligible total % offered health population of a check Whilst cumulative uptake, stands at 20% 45.71%, uptake in the last two quar- 10% ters reached 55.97% and 54.13% 0% respectively. DEVON Eastern Northern Western South Devon Increasing Uptake % Receiving NHS Health Check by Locality, 2014-15 (cumulative) 100% Programme uptake rates, and the 90% number of checks offered and re- ceived vary considerably by practice 80% and locality. By improving uptake 70% rate, we can seek to make the pro- 60% gramme more efficient. 50% Public Health England has been col- lating examples of best practice in 40% improving uptake from across the 30% country. Examples of these have % of total eligible health eligible receiving total populationa%check of 20% ranged from innovative social media campaigns to adapting the invitation 10% letter to better suit the population. 0% DEVON Eastern Northern Western South Devon Invitation Letter Uptake Rate for NHS Health Check by Locality (Seen/Offered), 2014-15 Work is ongoing with a number of (cumulative) 100% local authorities to test various invi- tation letters based on behavioural 90% insight principles. Initial results from 80% a study in Medway found that an 70% adapted invitation letter significant- 60% ly increased uptake in the area. If you would like to refer to this re- 50% search in developing your own invi- 40% tation letter, please refer to the fol- 30% lowing link. If you have a success 20% story in regards to uptake, please Persons Persons receivingahealth check aas of those % offered don’t hesitate to get in touch! 10% 0% DEVON Eastern Northern Western South Devon 2 Service Updates Stoptober support includes: Public Health Devon commissions a variety of services Stoptober stop smoking pack (which includes a 28 to support your patients following their NHS Health day calendar to track their Stoptober journey, a Check. Please see page 5 for referral details of these health and wealth wheel to see the difference services, and see below for service updates. quitting will make, and a scratchable intro card to Increasing Flu Vaccination Uptake keep them motivated). As the seasonal flu vaccination programme starts again A smartphone app, with 28 daily updates and from September, the NHS Health Check programme quitting advice. provides an extra opportunity to book eligible patients Text and email support services for motivational in for their seasonal influenza vaccination. Flu can lead pick-me-ups. to serious complications, especially for those in clinically Tips, humorous content as well as the encourage- at-risk groups, and flu vaccination is the most effective ment and support of thousands of people going way to protect individuals from harm. through the same thing via social media A GP Practice Tool-Kit has been developed as part of a (Facebook, Twitter and YouTube). peninsula-wide project to increase influenza vaccination uptake to under-65 clinically at-risk groups. With input Community Weight Management Services from local practices, clinicians, local authorities and Almost six months into the new Community-Based Public Health England, the tool-kit provides an extra Weight Management Service, staff at the Healthy Life- resource to be used alongside national guidance and style HUB report that a large number of clients are grad- publicity. It includes: uating to their second 12 week programme of weight Best practice action plan management support. This is possible when clients attend 75% of sessions and lose at least 2% of their Examples of local best practice and innovation body weight, so this is a really positive picture. Influenza vaccination uptake- literature review Staff at the HUB go further, saying “We have seen some Letter format: learning from the NHS Health fantastic results” said Rose Sloman, who works to co- Checks behavioural insights research ordinate referrals and help clients choose the pro- gramme that suits their needs - “some patients have Text messaging how-to reported losing up to 25lb in the first 12 weeks and are Results from the patient survey will be shared so excited by their progress!” very soon. Links to new materials will be added as Over 671 referrals have been received already from they become available. across Devon. Clients with less weight to lose (tier 1) It’s Stoptober Time Again! can be given support over the phone and receive a tai- lored self-help guide. Those with more weight to lose Stoptober is back for 2014. It’s the same 28 day chal- (tier 2), receive up to 24 weeks of funded support in a lenge, but this year has a comedy slant to help people structured weight management programme. stay smokefree for 28 days (and beyond). As soon as people join Stoptober, they’ll start receiving as much (or To refer patients, please use the referral proforma and as little) support as they want to keep them on track. All email it to the Healthy Lifestyles HUB administered by Stoptober support is free, and smokers can go online to Health Promotion Devon: E-Mail: [email protected] get their pack. Tel: 01884 836024 Please refer to the web pages for the referral criteria. 3 Frequently Asked Questions Q Do we have to go on training? Q How many times can I offer a Health Check to patients? The specification lays down the requirements for train- ing based on national guidance. You don’t have to at- Practices can decide how they make the health check tend, but we offer training to provide consistency offer to their patients (i.e. whether you invite by letter, across the programme and to provide support to staff phone call, text, or opportunistically), but please re- on behaviour change and motivational interviewing, to member to only record this offer once, even if the ini- ensure that we make the most of the intervention. tial offer is followed up by a text or phone call. Other- wise we will be over-counting and this will affect up- Q Do we have to use point of care testing take! (POCT)? Q Can you send me leaflets on X, Y, Z? This is a practice decision. Ongoing consumables and blood samples are included in the health check price. We only stock the Health Check Results Leaflets. These POCT allows a one stop visit including risk communica- can be ordered from [email protected] tion for certain individuals but some would still need Details of the codes and ordering details for other leaf- further tests. In rural areas this may be advantageous. lets are available on the Professional’s Web Pages. Q How many checks do I have to do? Q Is there a letter to send to patients? You need to invite 20% of your eligible population per A template is available on the Professional’s Web Pages year (after excluding patients on disease registers using If you would like to edit the invitation letter to suit your the exclusion read codes list on the website) and it is practice population, please refer to the research under- likely (based on the national programme) that 50% will taken by the PHE Behavioural Insights Team.