Areas of Tamworth to benefit from £100,000 fund to improve health and reduce obesity
Some areas in Tamworth are set to benefit from £100,000 to improve health and reduce obesity levels. Three areas of the town have been chosen to take part in the pilot scheme, which will see the recruitment of a dedicated community wellness worker and a community event.
The Mercian Primary Care Network submitted a proposal to the integrated care board for funding of £100,000 from the locality improvement fund, which could be extended for a further two years, to reduce health inequalities. In total 40 households have been chosen to take part in the scheme from the Glascote, Stonydelph and Belgrave wards in the town.
The pilot will aim to tackle obesity and other long term conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hypertension. As well as support behavioural change and deliver grants to grassroutes organisations already providing support.
Sonia Senior, senior manager at Mercian Primary Care Network told councillors: “As councils and health services we all look at data on a regular basis but very rarely do we look at a range of data together that’s come into one place. What’s interesting is the accumulation of that data has meant we’ve been able to identify a range of things and that’s why we’re identified those particular areas of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hypertension as having a significant effect on the health of Tamworth residents.”
Currently Tamworth ranks number four in England for obesity levels and is one of the highest for children under 11 being overweight. It has been suggested that health issues in the three selected areas are having an impact on hospital admissions.
Sonia continued: “We wanted to both support an individual cohort of patients, so we could actually follow them and see their success, hopefully with the intervention of the project, and how we could make a difference to them and their families. We wanted to focus on lifestyle and behavioural changes to make this project sustainable but also engaging for those people who don’t currently engage necessarily with other services and with GP services.”
If successful the scheme could save £5million due to the less hospital admissions and people living a healthier lifestyle. A community wellness worker based at Heath View Medical Centre will work with the identified patients with long term conditions, a range of activities will be created with the patients to ensure their success and two events will be held in schools in the areas throughout the year.
