Case studies

England has one of the highest rates of unhealthy weight of other western countries. The prevalence of obesity in England has more than doubled in the last 25 years. And if we go on as we are, the rate of obese people is expected to double in the next 40 years. Obesity is a complex problem that requires action from individuals and society across multiple sectors.

Bury has set up an uptake and inequalities task group, composed of council, NHS, HealthWatch and voluntary sector representatives to make sure vulnerable groups do not get left behind in the vaccine rollout out.

The Buy in Bradford food voucher scheme was launched in response to the growing numbers of people in food poverty in the city.

At the start of the pandemic, Calderdale Council’s public health team recognised the importance of supporting schools. They set up a helpline for schools so they could get in touch with public health specialists for advice.

Calderdale Council has set up a programme to tackle loneliness that is based in local communities – there are separate locality teams. Workers are employed to support local activities and groups and connect people referred into the programme with opportunities that suit them. One of the major strengths of the programme is that it is driven by local people who know their communities the best.

The Edge Café in Cambridge provides support to people recovering from substance misuse and those with mental health problems by running recovery groups and providing opportunities for volunteering.

Cambridgeshire County Council, Peterborough City Council and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) are coterminous with Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP), which is developing into an integrated care system (ICS).

In late 2017 the Technology Enabled Care (TEC) team began working on a project to improve pathways and access to TEC for those who were being discharged from hospital. The aim was to significantly increase the take-up of lifelines and telecare within a vulnerable cohort that would most benefit from them and ensure that people had access to the councils in house Reablement Enhanced Response Service (ERS). This example of a local initiative forms part of our managing transfers of care resource.

The two London boroughs of Camden and Islington have used some of their suicide prevention funding to provide a dedicated psychotherapy service for young adults leaving care. Tailored support is delivered in community settings through a local voluntary sector partner, the Brandon Centre.