Community champion approaches: rapid scoping review of evidence

Community champion approaches: rapid scoping review of evidence
PHE 26 August 2021

• Community champions or health champions are active community members who draw on their local knowledge, skills and life experience to promote health and wellbeing or improve conditions in their local community. They address barriers to engagement and improve connections between services and disadvantaged communities. Many local areas have developed community champion programmes to help support their local coronavirus (COVID-19) response.
• This rapid scoping review pulls together and considers existing research evidence on community champions approaches, both from the UK and internationally.
• Overall, findings show that:
• champion approaches are highly relevant to reducing health inequalities in a range of contexts
• there a range of different models and ways of building community champion programmes
• these approaches can be applied flexibly to meet local needs and assets champions can be key connectors in communities but these roles do not operate in isolation and need to be embedded in effective community engagement strategies

Diagnostics: Recovery and Renewal

Diagnostics: Recovery and Renewal
NHS England 1 October 2020

• A report by Sir Mike Richards which focuses on the most acute problems facing imaging, endoscopy, pathology, genomics and physiological measurement services (especially cardiorespiratory diagnostic services). Proposals include separation of acute diagnostics (A&E or inpatient) from elective diagnostics (eg GP referrals) and build up diagnostic capacity in Community Diagnostic Hubs.

The impact of COVID-19 on community health services

The impact of COVID-19 on community health services
NHS Confederation 4 August 2020

• This report captures the community health service sector’s response during the pandemic and showcases the achievements of community providers and their staff. It seeks to learn from community providers’ experiences of the pandemic to secure much-needed transformation for the longer term and makes a number of recommendations for support from government and the national NHS bodies to enable this.

The effectiveness of community-based social innovations for healthy ageing in middle- and high-income countries: a systematic review

The effectiveness of community-based social innovations for healthy ageing in middle- and high-income countries: a systematic review
Journal of Health Services Research & Policy 6 April 2020 https://doi.org/10.1177/1355819619888244

• A systematic review of research around community-based social innovations that aimed to empower people aged 50 and over by motivating them to take initiative for their own health and wellbeing. The identified papers (n=44) reported interventions having positive impacts on participants, such as reduced depression, though the majority of studies were classified as being at medium or high risk of bias. There was no evidence on costs or cost-effectiveness and very little reporting of outcomes at an organisation or system level.

The value of community services: comparison with acute settings

The value of community services: comparison with acute settings
HFMA 21 March 2019

• This briefing is the first of a series looking at how services delivered in the community add value to both the patient and the wider health and care economy. This report focuses on the value of delivering services in the community that were traditionally provided in an acute hospital setting.
• Case study 1: Aneurin Bevan University Local Health Board Ophthalmic Diagnostic and Treatment Centres
• Case study 2: Lincolnshire countywide tuberculosis service The Lincolnshire
• Case study 3: Sussex hospital at home
• Case study 4: West Norfolk intermediate care service and virtual ward
• Case study 5: Lincolnshire acute respiratory assessment service (COPD)

Addressing Social Isolation To Improve the Health of Older Adults

Addressing Social Isolation To Improve the Health of Older Adults: A Rapid Review
AHRQ Publication No. 19-EHC009-EF, February 2019

• A review of the impact of interventions targeting social isolation/loneliness in community-dwelling older adults (60 years and older) on outcomes of social isolation/loneliness, health and health care utilization.

Key Messages

Community health services explained

Community health services explained
Kings Fund 14 January 2019

• Despite their vital contribution, community services are poorly understood compared to other parts of the NHS. This explainer sets out what these services are, the challenges they are facing and how they are changing.

How to measure health-related community resilience at a national and local level

What quantitative and qualitative methods have been developed to measure health-related community resilience at a national and local level?
WHO Health Evidence Network synthesis report 60, 2018

• This report examines what quantitative and qualitative methods can be used to measure health-related community resilience at national and local levels.

Making sense of the community services data set

Making sense of the community services data set [blog]
Nuffield Trust 29 August 2018

• This blog post reflects on the new community services data (CSDS) now available for October 2017 to April 2018 and the challenges making sense of them.

Approaches to community services integration and consequences for emergency hospital activity

Horizontal or vertical: which way to integrate? Approaches to community services integration and consequences for emergency hospital activity
The Strategy Unit June 2018

• The Transforming Community Services policy required primary care trusts to decide how they organised the community health services they delivered; vertically integrate with an acute trust, horizontally integrate with a mental health trust, or set up a stand-alone community trust or Community Interest Company. 
• This report explores the impact this choice had on the level and growth in emergency hospital use in older people and considers the wider implications for the NHS as it develops new models of care and integrated care systems.

Community Services: Taking Centre Stage: The State of the Provider Sector

Community Services: Taking Centre Stage: The State of the Provider Sector
NHS Providers May 2018

• While it is generally accepted that treating people in the community and in their homes is better for patient outcomes and experience, and the financial sustainability of the NHS this ambition has not been realised. This report highlights reasons why this shift has failed to occur and presents solutions for success.

NHS Community Services: taking centre stage

NHS Community Services: taking centre stage
NHS Providers 21 May 2018

• Examples of good practice where community service providers have successfully developed new ways of working, collaborating with other services to improve care for patients.

Community-centred approaches for health and wellbeing

Community-centred approaches for health and wellbeing
PHE Health Matters, 28 February 2018

• This edition of Health Matters focuses on the use of community-centred approaches to enhance individual and community capabilities, create healthier places and reduce health inequalities. It includes a suite of infographics, case studies and slides to support local commissioning and delivery. 

Commissioning Community Development for Health: A concise handbook

Commissioning Community Development for Health: A concise handbook
Health Empowerment Leverage Project (HELP), January 2018

• This guide looks at the role of community development in health and health policy, explains the main features of community development and the role community-based approaches can play in improving services. 
• An outline model contract based on the C2 Seven Steps framework is provided, together with examples of Key Performance Indicators. Options for staffing are discussed, and ways of reducing cost through partnership with other agencies.

Reimagining community services: making the most of our assets

Reimagining community services: making the most of our assets
Kings Fund, 23 January 2018

• The authors examine current organisation of NHS community health services, present three case studies and conclude that "a radical transformation of community services is needed." In particular they highlight issues around budget allocations and silo working.
• Contents:
• What we mean by community services
• Policy context - a brief history
• The current organisation and provision of NHS community health services 
• Mapping community services in local areas - an examination of community services in three areas focusing on the CCG - Birmingham South Central CCG, Hull CCG and South Warwickshire CCG. Information was gathered by examining published material and conducting telephone interviews with representatives from each site. 
• Design principles to guide future models of community-based care
• Making it happen - next steps

Flow in providers of community health services: good practice guidance

Flow in providers of community health services: good practice guidance
NHS Improvement November 2017

• Good practice for providers of community health services around reducing Delayed Transfers of Care (DTOC), and NHS Improvement expectations of them over the next six months. NHS Improvement lays out six essential measures and three wider measures of good practice for consideration. 
• Cross-system working 
• 1. Facilitate system-wide data-sharing 
• 2. Actively engage in the operational management of discharge across all local organisations 
• 3. Develop a ‘discharge hub’ referral and co-ordination service as part of an integrated discharge team 
• Addressing challenges in resolving patient choice 
• 4. Effectively implement their patient choice policy 
• 5. Ensure the services they deliver are well understood 
• Boosting operational focus in providers of community health services 
• 6. Collect and share data for Red2Green days, creating a feedback loop between senior operational staff and the clinical workforce 
• Good practice for providers of community health services to consider :
• 1: Enabling staff to work in different settings 
• 2: Assisting patients to identify the best care packages for them
• 3: Taking steps to make nursing and therapy roles more attractive​

Community hospitals and their services in the NHS

Community hospitals and their services in the NHS: identifying transferable learning from international developments - scoping review, systematic review, country reports and case studies.

Health Serv Deliv Res 2017;5(19)

• A multimethod study including a scoping review of community hospital models, a linked systematic review of their effectiveness and efficiency, an analysis of experiences in Australia, Finland, Italy, Norway and Scotland, and case studies of four community hospitals in Finland, Italy and Scotland.

Community indicators project - NHS Improvement

Community indicators project
NHS Improvement 6 June

• A new scorecard based on routinely collected data, that can be used to compare community trusts to peers on patient and staff experience, and the effectiveness and responsiveness of their services.
• See HSJ analysis of the data for community trust staffing levels here. (Subscription required)

Provision of community care: who, what, how much?

Provision of community care: who, what, how much?
Health Foundation May 2017

• Analysis of information obtained through FOI  requests on the community care contracts held by 78% of CCGs found that NHS providers held more than half of the total annual value of contracts in the sample, while private providers held 5% of the total annual value, but 39% of the total number of contracts issued.
• Private providers tended to hold much smaller contracts, with 6 in 10 holding contracts with a combined value of less than £100,000. Additionally, most held just one contract.

Mobilising Communities: Insights on Community Action for Health and Wellbeing

Mobilising Communities: Insights on Community Action for Health and Wellbeing
NESTA 31 March 2017

• This report gathers a wide range of insights taken from three community sites on how to implement a people powered approach to health and wellbeing.
• Three main insights were found to be the most important to making a difference on the ground:
• Helping people help themselves
• Creating opportunities for people to help one another
• Creating value between the professional and social spheres - helping health and care
• The sites involved in the programme were
• The Bromley by Bow Centre and Health Partnership
• Spice and Lancashire County Council
• Horsham and Mid Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group