Ten years as a Marmot city

Coventry and Warwickshire ICB, Central England Law Centre, Coventry Independent Advice Services, Coventry University and Health Organisations

As a Marmot city, Coventry delivers programmes of work aligned to the Marmot Principle strengthen the role and impact of ill health prevention. An example of this is the Health Justice Partnership (HJP), which was funded with a higher allocation to areas with greater deprivation.

What our organisation did

Central England Law Centre, proposed to develop a health justice partnership approach, starting in a PCN in a deprived area of Coventry, and then taking the learning from that project to develop further partnership in Coventry and North Warwickshire. The aims were to improve health outcomes for the relevant patients and reduce demands on GPs for non-clinical issues. The initial partnership was established with a Primary Care Network (PCN). The programme supports people from a range of ethnicities, reflecting the population of Coventry. Most patients supported by the HJP are from core20 areas (the poorest areas in the city) and other vulnerable groups such as homeless people, migrants, and refugees; with issues that relate to housing, benefits, or financial hardship. There were many cases of complex needs where patients had mental health issues, substance misuse, or a history of violence.

Central England Law Centre is planning on developing a third Health Justice Partnership with a primary care network in Nuneaton and Bedworth. They are also working with the PCN to find further evidence of the benefits of the HJP support and are also developing recommendations for future activity to maximise the effectiveness of this partnership approach.

Successes

Only a few months into the project and with a full evaluation planned at completion, the Health Justice Partnership is already starting to demonstrate some positive outcomes for people experiencing inequalities. The total predicted income gains for Coventry residents are currently at £620,000 per annum, and more data is being gathered to understand the ongoing impact on the demand for healthcare services.

Homelessness was ended or prevented for 4 patients, and 6 patients were supported to gain limited capacity for work-related activities status, saving approximately 48 GP appointments annually as patients no longer require sick notes.

Service user feedback included:

• 37% of patients surveyed said visits to their GP had decreased since support from HJB
• 73% of patients surveyed have not gone back to their GP regarding social welfare issues since the HJP intervention
• 94.7% of patients surveyed advised that the HJP support had a positive impact on their physical or mental health

Find out more by visiting the Health Justice Partnership website