Imperial College London (ICL)

ID 370

We will draw on the WSIC data to look back at whether households that were allocated a CHWW were more likely, or not, to receive the immunizations, screening and health checks they were eligible for, than households not allocated a CHWW.

In 2021, Westminster Council piloted a new Community Health and Wellbeing Worker (CHWW) role in the Churchill Gardens council estate. The four new CHWWs were assigned to specific buildings on the estate, and each one had to engage with and visit the same 120 households that they were responsible for, each month, whether there was a Version 4.0 – April 2023 Page 6 of 26 clinical need or not. This proactive approach, building relationships and getting to know families really well, led to many positive outcomes. For example, in households that were visited by the CHWWs, residents eligible for immunizations or screening or health checks were much more likely to receive them, than households that had not yet been visited. Based on this positive impact, the four Primary Care Networks of Westminster (called Healthcare Central London) will recruit a further twenty CHWWs to be deployed to even more groups of 120 households across areas in Westminster that are particularly deprived. We will draw on the WSIC data to look back at whether households that were allocated a CHWW were more likely, or not, to receive the immunizations, screening and health checks they were eligible for, than households not allocated a CHWW. This will be a well-conducted evaluation of the impact of the CHWWs across a wider area than the pilot, and the findings will help policy makers understand whether lay people from the community can aid the uptake of and access to preventative services. Already there is national interest in the use of CHWWs, particularly ones that have a mandate to visit households even before they express any clinical need, because understanding and supporting families before their problems become too big, makes sense for residents and the health and social care system. This has already been seen in many countries around the world, but for England this evidence base is yet to be developed because, until now, there are no services in place such as this.

21/09/2023

TRE