In this case study, the Digital Pioneer Fellow of the South-West London Integrated Care System (SWL ICS) Dalanya “Dee” MorrisCommunity Health and Wellbeing Champion for East Primary Care Network, explains how her project helps support and empower the local community by providing digital and social engagement that meets their health and wellbeing needs.
Project summary
Pollards Hill, recognised as one of the most deprived areas in South West London, faces a number of challenges that impact the health and wellbeing of its residents. This project supports the community by tackling key issues such as the cost of living crisis, digital inclusion, mental health, social isolation and loneliness. In line with NHS England policy Core20PLUS5 As part of our strategy, we also focus on reducing health inequalities and promoting community cohesion by strategically using local resources.
the project’s objectives
The project began after identifying an urgent need in the Pollards Hill community through health data and input from the community, partners and stakeholders. Using community resources, existing services and partnerships, we aim to encourage and support community cohesion within Pollards Hill. This involves identifying and delivering appropriate services that meet the needs of the community. Additional work proposed within the project includes planning and delivering events to address health and wellbeing, fostering community engagement, recruiting volunteers, creating self-sustaining projects, empowering residents and promoting partnership working.
Some of the challenges we faced included a lack of space and resources for events, and resistance from key partners to engage and manage events collaboratively (particularly when dealing with people with complex needs). Despite this, we managed to deliver 15 events in ten months, responding to identified needs, improving community health and wellbeing, and participating in ten further community events.
Dee has been a real asset to the Pollards Hill Local Neighbourhood Team over the last 12 months. She has been able to help the team support a number of vulnerable clients in the neighbourhood and has made a real difference to some complex cases.
Gavin Rodgers
Senior Neighborhood Housing Officer
Impact/Results
Since the start of digital drop-in sessions, we have managed to interact with 800 people within our community while Helping 60 digitally excluded people connect and use the NHS app. Other initiatives implemented include:
- A successful three-day liver cancer screening eventwhere the community had access to vital health resources to meet the needs of the NHS
- Morning Coffee for Caregivers
- Cancer Support Groups for people affected by cancer
- Cost of living events
- World Awareness Day for health and well-being
- Weekly digital drop-in sessions to support access to data, devices, internet and the NHS app
- A weekly walking and discussion group A program that regularly engages at least ten participants, allowing them to increase their weekly physical activity by 90 minutes. This program has been running successfully and self-sufficient for eight months thanks to the work of six volunteers.
I really enjoy the walk and the company I walk with. It is one of the best things Dee has done for us (the community). Absolutely brilliant. I always look forward to it every Saturday.
Patient
By identifying service gaps, we effectively organized targeted projects to address these needs. I encouraged professional collaboration to better support the community and sought additional funding. Successful bids allowed us to provide the community with data, access to devices, and essential goods and services, further expanding the reach and impact of these projects.
Finally, asset-based community development was used to build strong relationships with key partners, stakeholders and community members. All key performance indicators (KPIs) and project outcomes were exceeded within the first few months, while we also established excellent collaborations with other critical services and support networks.
Next steps
Our goal for the coming year is to achieve the planned KPIs and outcomes through close collaboration with stakeholders and partners. This will involve expanding our digital consultation sessions to five new sites across various services and continuing to deliver health and wellbeing events and projects tailored to the needs of the community.
The project also serves as a model for the role of Community Health and Wellbeing Champion and has the potential to be implemented on a larger scale across boroughs. To support this, we are planning a formal evaluation that measures the overall impact of the project, in terms of time and resources saved.
Dalanya “Dee” Morris is a member of the first cohort of the SWL ICS Digital Pioneer Fellowship program.
THE SWL ICS Digital Pioneer Scholarship Program supports change makers employed by the NHS, local authorities and voluntary sector organisations in South West London to design and lead health and care transformation projects supported by digital innovation. Funded by the South-West London Integrated Care System, the programme builds on DigitalHealth.London’s Digital Pioneer Fellowship programme, but is specifically aimed at staff employed by the NHS, local authorities and voluntary sector organisations in South West London.
To learn more about the other fellows in the first cohort of the SWL ICS Digital Pioneer Fellowship program, please refer to our innovation directory.
