Press Releases

New NHS Alliance hosted a special Summer Event on Wednesday 5th July, to share the thoughts and experiences coming out of our new groundbreaking ‘A Manifesto for Health Creation’. Throughout the day delegates shared their knowledge around bringing health creation to people wherever they may be – through outreach work and collaboration, reflected on the Manifesto’s key recommendations and discussed on how best to drive them forward from a ‘think’ focus to a ‘do’ focus, so that health creation becomes a core part of the UK healthcare system.
The event in London was attended by healthcare professionals and resident/expert witnesses, with a dynamic and interactive programme of thought provoking presentations, workshops and panel discussions, chaired by Prof Paul Burstow, Birmingham Mental Health Commission. The day was defined by the moving stories of motivational empowerment in action and how good being connected and in control made people feel; and the positive and enthusiastic sharing of ideas and innovations in health creation practice. We were encouraged by our delegate’s discussions, information sharing and energy for change, despite often citing how hard it is to change our mindset and to progress the journey of health creation in a reluctant system.
The consensus view was that we all need to build on the successes achieved to date to keep the momentum and public narrative going. It was agreed that the core challenge ahead was to convert the unconvinced and to encourage sceptics that courageous new thinking is required to ensure that Health Creation and health creating practices become ‘business as usual!’
We believe this challenge is even more pressing, given the increasingly polarised society in the UK exposed by recent events and with projections suggesting that social inequality is likely to increase over the next few years. The economic effect of Brexit is already starting to kick in and rising inflation – increasing prices in food and so on – always hits the poorest most. That affects inequality and in turn has a knock on negative impact on people’s health and quality of life.
Merron Simpson, New NHS Alliance Chief Executive, commented:
“There is a growing urgency for the NHS and other sectors to move quickly to adopt Health Creation as a routine part of what it does. That’s why we have identified the 5 features of health creating practices in our manifesto – because it offers those working at any level within any organisation a starting point for creating conditions for people to increase their levels of the 3Cs (Health Creation). We urge everyone across the health system to start innovating with the 5 features all of the time and start to see the difference for themselves. New NHS Alliance is also working with partners to bring about the systems-changes required.”
Speakers, presentations and quotes:
NNHSA Chair, Heather Henry, speaking on the aims of the Manifesto’s 10 top line recommendations as a way of creating health that decreases dependency, increases resilience and reduces their demands on traditional health and care services, said: “We need to shift from a pathogenic mindset to thinking about the causes of health – and we need to go to communities with humility respect and listen – not power & control.”
Professor Paul Burstow, Birmingham Mental Health Commission, speaking on why we need a paradigm shift for mental health and how health Creation may help, highlighted the importance of reducing mental illness in young people. He commented: “People don’t want a mental health service, they want a life. Often we are giving them neither.”
Sir John Eldridge,  Carnegie Trust, speaking on the Manifesto, described the ‘enabling state’ – and commented that the Manifesto was a clear statement of the challenges.
Noel Mathis WEvolutionUK, speaking on Self-Reliant Groups, said: “SRGs are disruptive, they disrupt the culture of dependency.”
Catherine Wilton, NHS England, talking about the need for health creation, said: “We are within a paradigm where we are doing what we know doesn’t work.”
Peter Hay, Birmingham Director of Social Services, speaking about the health Creation practices in Birmingham, said: “Health professionals need to find ways to include the – 5 features of health creating practice – Listening and responding, Truth-telling, Strengths-focus,  Self-organising, Power-shifting – in every interaction!”
Robert Punton expert witness, speaking about the health Creation practices in Birmingham, said: “People need to build their own support not have it thrust upon them!”
Juliann Hall, South Yorkshire Housing Association, talked about the strength in interdependency not independence, as described in the Manifesto –  (‘connection’ is one of the 3Cs).
Dr  Amanda Skeate, St Basils, challenged general practitioners to adopt a learning approach called Psychologically Informed Environments by training their receptionists in the model.
Brian Fisher, NNHSA Vice Chair, said:
“Health Creation is urgent – and it saves lives. One of the 5 features of health creating practice is listening – and responding. We can see the extreme consequences of not listening, not respecting, not responding to the voices of the populations we serve: Grenfell and Mid-Staffs, for instance. These also show that we need a power shift, another of the 5 features of Health Creation. One of the reasons people are not listened to is because they are seen as powerless and of little consequence. We need the system to change.”

NB: ITN Productions filmed throughout the day and the event highlights in this inspiring video perfectly captures the energy for change and for taking purposeful action to apply, adopt and embed health creation within daily practice.

Please click on the link below  to view the video:
https://itnproductions.wistia.com/medias/m0qmadosyn# 

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The New NHS Alliance (NNHSA) have today set out their vision and road map for Health Creation in a ground-breaking Manifesto, which sets out 10 high impact recommendations to create a wellness-based health system, aimed at tackling the continuing problem and social injustice of health inequalities.
The Manifesto for Health Creation calls for:

• The adoption of health creating practices
• System reforms to support Health Creation
• Enhanced education on Health Creation

NNHSA Chair, Heather Henry, explains:
“Politically and professionally, the issue and problem of health inequality has unfortunately not received the attention, or the solutions, that it merits. Which is why a key driver and commitment for the New NHS Alliance has been to work in partnership with others to lead the change to reduce health inequalities through Health Creation. The NNHSA and its supporters believe the case for Health Creation is compelling. Crucially, we believe the time is right for stakeholders to adopt this approach as a core part of the UK healthcare system.”
“Each of the Manifesto’s 10 top line recommendations are a way of creating health that decreases dependency, increases resilience and reduces their demands on traditional health and care services. We urge stakeholders and individuals across the healthcare professions to adopt health creating practices and to join the New NHS Alliance and the Health Creation movement!”
NNHSA Vice Chair, Dr Brian Fisher – a London GP, says:
“The New NHS Alliance membership has vast, shared experiences of practising community based health creation. Our Manifesto includes substantive evidence and examples of the benefits, successes and effective levers for adopting a Health Creation approach.”
“The UK health system needs outcome measures that focus on addressing what matters to people as well as what’s the matter with people. If planning started with and responded to the issues raised by local people, we would get even more value from ‘the renewable energy of communities’ – as illustrated by our Manifesto case studies of Health Creation initiatives across the country.”
NNHSA Chief Executive, Merron Simpson, comments:
“Health Creation is the enhancement in health and wellbeing that occurs when individuals and communities achieve a sense of purpose, hope, mastery and control over their own lives and immediate environment. Our Health Creation Manifesto reiterates our commitment to building and developing a sustainable, community-based health and care system.
We believe that if the health, care and wellbeing professions all focus on health creation it will help to bring about the step change that is needed across the system to tackle health inequalities. Importantly, this focus will also enhance cross-functional and collaborative working, both within and across professional boundaries.”
“People and communities themselves hold the key to building a sustainable health system where demand can be managed effectively. We call on all the political parties to provide extra funding to stimulate health creating activities – led by local people, for local people – and ‘catalysts’, people who are experienced in working with communities to create the conditions for health creating activity to happen.”

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Notes to editors:

• For enquiries, please contact: Judy Harris at judyharris15@aol.co.uk or on 07717 691845
• You can read the Manifesto here
• New NHS Alliance mission is …‘to infect the UK health system with wellness’. You can find more information here
• New NHS Alliance has a goal to make Health Creation and health creating practices a core part of the UK healthcare system alongside a greater focus on prevention. We believe that this is the best way to reduce health inequalities and deliver a sustainable health service.
• The Health Creation Manifesto has been endorsed by the Royal College of GPs and is supported by The Queen’s Nursing Institute, Nesta Health Lab, Alpha Primary Care and Housing LIN

 

The aim is to produce community immunity through immunisation. Over the years we have struggled to hit WHO or Public Health targets – the New NHS Alliance believe that we must do better. Community Pharmacy has contributed a significant number of immunisations and joint working with General Practice is becoming more common. The flu letter for 2017 – 2018 has arrived and introduces the immunisation of reception and school age children for the first time.
Community Pharmacy wants to make a greater contribution and to help Public Health England achieve their 40-65% immunisation targets, but unfortunately seem to be excluded. Community Pharmacy has been excluded from the last program by not being able to access nationally purchased vaccine from the national stock for the immunisation of children.
Within the letter GPs are being asked to immunise 2 to 3 year old children. The immunisation of school age children will be delivered by school nurses and if any children miss their slot they will have to go to General Practice.
The NHS England Area Teams have the opportunity of introducing programs that are slightly different for their areas. The New NHS Alliance would like to suggest the following:

• Allow Community Pharmacy to be part of the service and allow access to vaccines from within the national purchasing scheme.
• To allow community pharmacies to deliver the service to school near their pharmacy.
• To allow community pharmacy to immunise children that have missed their opportunity within the school based program

Mark Robinson, NNHSA Executive member and special advisor – community pharmacy, said:
“We must remember that the aim is to produce community immunity and we must be disappointed that we continue to miss the national and international targets. We must try harder and do differently. It would seem an omission that community pharmacy does not have a clearer position in delivering the targets.”
He added: “We have shown that increasing the engagement between community pharmacy, children and their parents creates greater awareness of the services provided within the pharmacy – and has increased the number of minor ailment consultations in the pharmacy and reduced prescribing in General Practice. It is about time that we thought ‘one primary care’ and utilised community pharmacy more.”

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Notes to editors:

• For enquiries,interviews or further comment, please contact: Judy Harris at judyharris15@aol.co.uk  or on 07717 691845
• New NHS Alliance mission is … ‘to infect the UK health system with wellness’. You can find more information here
• New NHS Alliance has a goal to make Health Creation and health creating practices a core part of the UK healthcare system alongside a greater focus on prevention. We believe that this is the best way to reduce health inequalities and deliver a sustainable health service. Click here for a short briefing paper on Health Creation.
• You can find coverage of our Health Creation Action Summit here 

 
 

The New NHS Alliance has supported the employment of pharmacists within General Practice through their document ‘Pharmacists and General Practice’ and within ‘Making time in General Practice’. We have also been great supporters of the commitment to pump prime pharmacists in General Practice and the work of NHS England in driving forward the successful pilot into full roll out. We have also seen the value and contribution that pharmacists in General Practice can make.
However, it is simply not enough. The 1,300 practices across London, who are currently surviving in a very challenging environment are allocated just 84 between then – and many are disappointed at this level and the lack of alternatives.  In Wandsworth community pharmacists have stepped in and supported General Practice on a sessional basis. Last year The NHS Alliance published their report ‘Supporting the development of community pharmacy’. The report offers 8 recommendations on ways to engage community pharmacists in managing the demand in General Practice. We know that several GP federations have approached Local Pharmaceutical Committees asking what more Community Pharmacy can do.
The New NHS Alliance believes that demand in General Practice is at a critical level. We know that working in ways that promote health creation can also help to reduce demand, and we would welcome urgent action to support community pharmacy to go further to manage demand and adopt health creating practices.
New NHS Alliance pharmacy lead, Mark Robinson, said:
“We have always said that Community Pharmacy is an under-utilised resource. It is time to sort this out and find ways of engaging and supporting community pharmacy to work closely with General Practice and with communities to manage demand.”

Ends

Notes to editors:

• For enquiries, interviews or further comment,  please contact: Judy Harris at judyharris15@aol.co.uk  or on 07717 691845
• New NHS Alliance mission is … ‘to infect the UK health system with wellness’. You can find more information here
• New NHS Alliance has a goal to make Health Creation and health creating practices a core part of the UK healthcare system alongside a greater focus on prevention. We believe that this is the best way to reduce health inequalities and deliver a sustainable health service. Click here for a short briefing paper on Health Creation.
• You can find coverage of our Health Creation Action Summit here

 
 
 

There is plenty to welcome in the announcement, including action to improve cancer care, extra money for children’s mental health and more NHS walk-in centres.
A realistic plan, but contradictions remain and people will still suffer

• We applaud Simon Stevens for being up front about the trade-offs that will have to be made. Non-the-less, dropping the waiting targets means people will have to wait longer in pain and people starting to die on waiting lists. This is a retrograde step for British citizens and one that is quite unnecessary – if the health service was properly funded.
• The glaring hole at the centre of this Delivery Plan is the lack of additional money.
• It’s not clear how getting hospitals to provide advice on smoking and drinking sits alongside the cuts to public health
• Encouraging more people to go into nursing is to be applauded but it is not clear how that sits with the Government’s decision to axe nursing bursaries.

STPs, CCGs, HWBs

• The government needs to come clean on how it sees the future of CCGs and Health and Wellbeing Boards? Will the rise of the place-based STP render CCGs and HWBs irrelevant?

Now we need rapid action on health creation

• We are very pleased that the Plan exhorts STPs to ‘mobilise collective action on “health creation” and service redesign’.
• However, the difference between aspiration and reality is a yawning gap!
• We now need to see another delivery plan setting out steps that NHS England, Public Health England, Department of Health and Health Education England intend to take to refocus the NHS and wider health system on ‘wellness’ and health creation, alongside an upgrade in prevention.

General practice

• New NHS Alliance wants to see health creating practice supported through the GP contract and other primary care contracts. For example, the Patient Participation Group Direct Enhanced Service could be reworked; a Direct/Local Enhanced Service could be introduced to harness the power of local people.
• All staff need to be trained in health coaching and actively promote self-management as part of a health creating curriculum, in order to decrease dependency on the system.
• Why do GP federations need to be formalised into hubs?
• There are questions on how, when there is already a shortage of GPs and they are being asked to provide a seven-day service, they will also be on hand to help in A&E units.

Pharmacy

• It’s about time we stopped using the rhetoric – that community pharmacy is a hugely underutilised resource – and start thinking of how pharmacist can be better used to manage demand, integrate with urgent and emergency care and deliver health creation through health and wellbeing hubs: http://www.nhsalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Supporting-the-Development-of-Community-Pharmacy-Practice-within-Primary-Care-NEW-LOGO.pdf

Mental health

• While we are glad that mental health receives particular attention, we continue to see a purely service approach whereby access to dedicated services is prioritised. We would like recognition that Health Creation has a significant role to play in improving people’s mental state and that embedding health creating (salutogenic) practices across the health system can make a significant difference to the general state of people’s mental health.

Housing

• We’re surprised that the interface between medical institutions and people’s home environments – the place where patients spend the majority of their time – does not receive greater attention.
• If we are to shift to a home-based, community-based health system we need to start talking routinely about what’s happening in those homes and communities and which organisations might be best placed to support it.
• This Housingforhealth resource shows the breadth of what’s possible when housing and health work together.

Work and health

• We are interested in seeing more about the programmes to support healthy communities and support disabled people and those with long-term conditions to manage their own health, care and wellbeing.
• At a recent New NHS Alliance event, we concluded that strength-based (health creating) approaches – that focus on what people can do, rather than on their illness – can help to keep people active and in work despite health-limiting conditions.

 
 

The leaders of the NHS in England today (Friday 31 March) have set out a refreshed five year view and delivery plan.
Welcoming the renewed impetus this brings, the Chair of New NHS Alliance (NNHSA), Heather Henry – an independent nurse and former director of primary care, commented:
“It is very welcome that NHS England recognises the importance of developing the concept of and collective action for ‘Health Creation’ through the STPs – this marks a turning point in the way we can keep people well and support and encourage healthy lives and wellness within local communities. The Alliance has articulated ideas, approaches and actions which are needed to develop a ‘Health Creating NHS’ over this last year and is leading the way in developing practice in health creation including through our innovative ‘Active Alliance’ professional social movement for wellness. Communities must be seen as a core part of the solution, not an add-on.
NNHSA Chief Executive, Merron Simpson, added:
“Working together and building on people’s and communities’ strengths, the NHS, local authorities, housing organisations and community-based groups can build a joined up health and social care system; it will look different in different places if it is truly meeting the needs and character of different communities and we know this will improve health and help tackle health inequalities. But the various parts of the NHS need to allow this to happen; it doesn’t need to do more, it needs to do things differently and in partnership with local organisations and communities that have so much to offer”.   
New NHS Alliance has seen enough examples of truly health creating practice to be assured that all parts of the health system can play roles in creating conditions for health creation. So, GPs, community pharmacists and housing organisations can all ‘play host’ to community wellness, giving space for communities to find their own solutions whether that is through community-led walking groups, self help Facebook groups, gardening, ‘men’s shed’ type activities or other activities.
NNHSA Vice Chair, Dr Brian Fisher – a London GP, said:
We have reasons to be cautiously optimistic. It is good to see that the Delivery Plan has a particular focus on General Practice with more nurses, therapists and pharmacists to help provide the time and resources to implement the changes. However, it is difficult to square the optimism of the Plan with data showing that GP and nurse numbers are falling; that the resilience funding is not reaching the front line; that  monies that might have supported a progressive preventative and health creating future being used to shore up Trust deficits. We urge government and staff to reorient their efforts, resources and funding towards prevention and health creation, so that the whole system is defined by ‘wellness’ with health outcomes being the principal measure of success.”

Ends

 
Notes to editors:

• For enquiries, interviews or further comment,  please contact: Judy Harris at judyharris15@aol.co.uk  or on 07717 691845
• New NHS Alliance mission is … ‘to infect the UK health system with wellness’. You can find more information here
• New NHS Alliance has a goal to make Health Creation and health creating practices a core part of the UK healthcare system alongside a greater focus on prevention. We believe that this is the best way to reduce health inequalities and deliver a sustainable health service. Click here for a short briefing paper on Health Creation.
• We define ‘Health Creation’ as …“the enhancement in health and wellbeing that occurs when individuals and communities achieve a sense of purpose, hope, mastery and control over their own lives & immediate environment”.
• You can find coverage of our Health Creation Action Summit here