How Community Health Trainers in Manchester enable positive lifestyle changes

Objectives

In July 2005 Manchester was chosen as one of the first areas in the UK to pilot a new national initiative known as ‘Health Trainers’, first introduced in the government’s “Choosing Health’ White Paper. At the time, 15 of the 33 wards in Manchester were ranked in the top 100 most deprived wards in the country and Manchester, as a whole, was ranked as the second most deprived district in the country.

The White Paper proposed that Health Trainers should be drawn from local communities and would aim to reach people who want to adopt healthier lifestyles but who are not in contact with services. This programme is not about support for those who already enjoy good health - Health Trainers work with those communities in highest need of action to reduce health inequalities. 

Targeting disadvantaged groups and improving their access to services are identified as ‘big wins’ in ‘Choosing Health’. Communities most at risk of ill-health also tend to experience the least satisfactory access to preventative services because of a range of cultural and geographical barriers. Common barriers include:

• services which are perceived to be intimidating or stigmatising;
• access and transport difficulties;
• lack of interpreters and inaccessible service hours and
• difficult appointment systems.

In order to strengthen prevention and enable lifestyle changes in communities at risk, the NHS launched the Health Trainer Programme in 2006. The objectives of this national pilot programme are:

• to improve public and patient access to information and services
• to target vulnerable and marginalised individuals
• to address the major lifestyle determinants of health
• to support clients to achieve and maintain positive lifestyle changes 

Another key aim for the Manchester programme is to attract new people into jobs with the NHS who have had little or no employment experience previously, particularly in the NHS, but have a passion and insight into the needs of their local community. The Health Trainer is a relatively new employment opportunity aimed at local people who want to support others to improve their health. It represents a significant new pathway into the NHS.

In Manchester another key aim was to build on the strong collaborative links between the City Council, NHS  and the voluntary and community sector. The vision is to enhance the ability of different organisations and services to improve the health and well being of Manchester residents through the development of a flexible, skilled and mobile city-wide workforce.