Projects

“Lasting change happens when people see for themselves that a different way of life is more fulfilling than their present one”- Eknath Easwaran

Greenfields

Refugees, homeless people and asylum seekers need specialised healthcare and that is exactly what we provide through the Greenfields Project.

This innovative scheme, based at Smethwick Medical Centre offers an alternative way of meeting the needs of these very specific groups of people.

The benefits are two-fold: Patients receive appropriate care and healthcare professionals gain valuable new skills that are improving their development. Greenfields has provided many recruitment opportunities for the community.

Services have been redesigned and redeveloped so that more people can be seen and linked in with a range of healthcare professionals, mainstream services and other agencies.

An experienced team of people are able to use and develop their skills and knowledge to offer tailor-made care efficiently, which has reduced running costs and freed up finance for other developments.

Greenfields is a project we are particularly proud of.

Tackling Cardiovascular Disease (CVD)

CVD is the most common cause of death in the UK and is a particular health problem for people living in Sandwell.

PHD is using its community connections to tackle one of our area’s biggest killers.

The term ‘CVD’ includes all diseases of the heart and circulation, such as heart disease, angina and stroke - things that are affected by poor diet, lack of exercise and other factors common in deprived areas. To tackle this issue, Sandwell is one of ten of the UK’s worst affected areas that have received funding from the Improvement Foundation.

We have used this support to set up the Healthy Communities Collaborative. Its work has received regional and national acclaim.

This innovative project has brought together different groups of people such as patient representatives, NHS professionals, community groups and the voluntary sector. By working together, we are helping to raise awareness of CVD in our community.

Real achievements have included:

A Successful conference ‘Open Space’, where more than 70 people attended to discuss how to tackle CVD in their local area
A Health Day in April that attracted around 300 people and led to queues for health and diabetes checks.
Training sessions for our volunteers have been extremely successful in identifying the risks of CVD. Further advanced sessions are now being planned in other areas of health.
Several mid-life health check sessions carried out for shoppers at Asda in Cape Hill and Tesco Metro, connecting with over 500 people who live in Smethwick.

Cancer Awareness

Half of all cancers could be prevented if we all lived healthier lives.

Cancer is a major cause of morbidity in the UK. In 2006, around 293,000 people were newly diagnosed with cancer. There are more than 200 different types of cancer, but four of them - breast, lung, large bowel (colorectal) and prostate - account for over half (54%) of all new cases.
The prevalence of these most common forms are generally attributed to an unhealthy lifestyle and environment.

We have been working closely with Cancer Research UK, NHS Stop Smoking Service and Health & Wellbeing Services in Sandwell and the neighbouring areas, running effective --awareness campaigns and providing advice to all members of the community.

Services we provide:

Women aged 25 to 64 are invited for a free smear test every 3 to 5 years. Cervical screening can prevent cancer by detecting and treating early changes in the neck of the womb before cancer develops
Women aged 50 to 70 are invited for a free mammogram every 3 years. Breast screening can pick up cancer at a very early stage, before you would be able to feel a lump
Men and women aged 60 to 69 are sent a free bowel cancer screening test kit in the post every 2 years. The kit can find small amounts of blood in the bowel motions that are too small to see and could be the first sign of bowel cancer.

Smoking Cessation

Our service, SandQuit is proud to be one of the first wave of new provider services in the West Midlands providing both Stop Smoking and Stop Smoking in Pregnancy Services to the people of Sandwell.

Our service commences on 8th April 2010 and we will be providing 1-2-1 and group sessions to help local smokers to quit for good. To book onto our Stop Smoking Service, call 0121 555 4851.

If you live outside of the Sandwell area and would like more information on smoking and stop smoking providers in your area click here.

Fit for Work Programme

Fit for Work – joining up health and work to prevent long-term sickness absence

It is estimated that the annual economic cost of ill-health in terms of working days lost and worklessness is over £100 billion – equivalent to the annual running costs of the NHS. The Confederation of British Industry estimated that 172 million working days were lost in 2007 due to absence, costing employers £13 billion.

As part of the Government’s aim to improve the health and well-being of the working-age population, PHD has formed a partnership with Ingeus to deliver Fit for Work – a free service that supports employed people who are struggling to manage their health condition at work, and those in the early stages of sickness absence so they can return to work more quickly than they otherwise would.

Why is Fit for Work important?

Evidence shows that once an individual is out of work for health reasons it is likely that their health will worsen and the longer they remain out of work, the more difficult it is for them to return.

This results in longer periods of staff sickness than necessary.

Fit for Work provides your staff with free access to our fully qualified health professionals, who can support them to manage common physical and mental health conditions, such as bad back, cardio-respiratory problems, stress and depression, as well as supporting staff with more complex health needs.

Our free service includes:

Fully qualified health professionals who assess your employees’ work requirements and support them to improve their health and remain in or return to work.
Guidance on how employees can self-manage their health condition while in work.
Advice on physical health, mental well-being and lifestyle management (i.e. increasing physical activity, improving sleep, healthier eating, stress management, confidence and assertiveness)
Assessments to see if improvements can be made at the workplace to help employees manage their conditions better.

Consultation on modified duties, reasonable adjustments and other working conditions. A report on what your employee can do, and temporary restrictions that are medically essential.