The awards celebrate the hard work that goes on across Coventry throughout the public health system to improve health and wellbeing, and to reduce health inequalities. It recognises individuals that go above and beyond to make the city a better place.
The highlight areas like digital innovation, public participation and social value; as well as recognise the role of volunteers within the public health services - “our Health Heroes” and stand to encourage competition and best practice between contractors.
Innovator of the Year [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/190/health_and_wellbeing/3379/health_and_wellbeing_awards_2019/2]
This award is given for new initiatives or ideas that have had a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of Coventry citizens.
Digital Innovation [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/190/health_and_wellbeing/3379/health_and_wellbeing_awards_2019/3]
This award is given for new uses of technology that have had a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of Coventry citizens.
Participation [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/190/health_and_wellbeing/3379/health_and_wellbeing_awards_2019/4]
This award is given for examples of how clients or service users have been involved in decision making or the running of services.
Social Value [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/190/health_and_wellbeing/3379/health_and_wellbeing_awards_2019/5]
This award is given for examples of how services are run in ways which promote the social and economic vibrancy of the city and help improve the local environment.
2019 event photos
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/coventrycc/albums/72157709529224962]
Innovator of the Year - Bump and Buggy from South Warwickshire Foundation Trust (SWFT)
Innovation of the Year was awarded to ‘Bump and Buggy’, brainchild of Kerry Harris at the South Warwickshire Foundation Trust (SWFT), a free service, designed for mums and mums to be who want to take care of their body, health and mental wellbeing during and after pregnancy.
The Bump and Buggy programme has been co-developed with mums and mums to be in the community to have a say in the type of exercises that they would like to do, to keep the sessions varied.
It’s part of the existing Coventry Family Health and Lifestyle service that works to deliver healthy lifestyle and exercise programmes designed to reduce the risk of obesity among children by supporting families. This includes Bump and Buggy workouts, offering exercise and nutrition in a fun and relaxed environment.
Kerry told us has gone from strength to strength over the years: “Around 6 years ago we started A Buggy Workout Extra class at the War Memorial Park. This was first a mixture of post-natal exercise and nutritional information for new mums. Since then we have set up and run buggy workout extra programmes city-wide within different settings including, family hubs, leisure centres, church halls and community centres.”
The team have kept the exercise class running at the Memorial Park every Wednesday morning and over the years the numbers have been increasing where some weeks we would have 37 mums and babies all exercising together. With an extra session added on Mondays at Longford Park due to demand to target the wider community.
“We now have 2 classes running every Wednesday morning one that caters for pregnant mums and new mums just starting to exercise again, as well as a more advanced exercise class for more experienced ladies and their babies.
“About 18 months ago we decided to open this class up to expectant mums as our team are pre and post-natal trained. We have been able to encourage mums to stay active during and after pregnancy.
The sessions combine ante and postnatal exercise that can be adapted to cater to all levels of fitness whilst encouraging new friendship groups and the chance to exercise and talk. They allow mums to bring their babies/children along without the worry of cost or organising childcare.
“It has been a positive and enjoyable journey, encouraging mums, listening to their experiences during and after pregnancy, and giving them confidence to get out the house to the park (in all weathers) with their baby and help to improve their mental wellbeing.
“All the positive feedback that we receive from them is a special feeling that touches the heart and gives real job satisfaction. Many of the ladies state that the group gives them the motivation to attend weekly and it gives them the determination to become fitter and to be a positive role model to their children. The group has allowed new friendships to be formed; the ladies have set up WhatsApp groups and have stayed in touch with each other outside of the sessions they have also gifted each other clothing and toys when their babies have out grown them. The ladies also comment on how the classes have had a positive impact on their appearance and health.
“The feeling of improving self-worth and helping them feel good about themselves at a time when some may be feeling isolated and confidence can be low is very rewarding” Kerry said.
The passion from Kerry and her team that run the programme comes from a personal place. Colleague, Claudia Bacchi, had her first child three years ago and delivered the classes all the way through her pregnancy until 39 weeks.
“I could relate to the mums during this time and after having my little girl I attended the buggy workout sessions as a participant too. Therefore, I can see the class from both angles and what works and what doesn’t. For me it wasn’t the exercise side of it that I most needed it was the social aspect and meeting Mums that were experiences all the same things as me at that time.
“It can be a very challenging time for new mums, adjusting to their new life with a baby and many mums could have feelings of loneliness, low self-esteem, or lack of sleep. Buggy workout brings a group mums together in a relaxed environment, where they can share their experiences, worries and knowledge and benefit with a great workout and fresh air. Exercise alone can help mums feel better about themselves and help lift low mood or post-natal depression” Claudia told us.
There is now also the opportunity to access monthly health checks and provide an avenue for referral for women who develop gestational diabetes during pregnancy. Instructors remind women to attend their postnatal checks 6 – 13 weeks after pregnancy, a key point in establishing if type 2 diabetes has developed.
The intervention continues to develop and they are in the process of setting up a referral pathway directly for ante-natal ladies to specialise bump and buggy sessions for women referred through the stop smoking in pregnancy team.
“We want to encourage ladies to be active in pregnancy and talk about the changes in the body and how to adapt exercise to suit all levels of pregnancy and talk about the benefits of being active and eating healthily, with a view to signposting onto our buggy programmes” said Kerry.
Kerry won the Innovation of the Year Award because of her creative influence and role within the community to improve and mental wellbeing in motherhood through physical activity and friendship.
“My colleagues and I (Lucy Foster, Claudia Bacchi and Sue Douglas) are so happy and proud that Bump and Buggy has been given the recognition it deserves as it is such a rewarding and positive programme to be a part of.
“It is so much more than an exercise class, it allows the ladies to interact with each other, share concerns, give advice and support each other through motherhood.”
Digital Innovation - Healthy Lifestyles âBest Youâ
The Digital Innovation of the Year Award went to Coventry Healthy Lifestyles Service [https://hlscoventry.org/] (HLS), following Stuart Jackson’s work on app, ‘Best-You’. A tool developed six years ago to support people in making lifestyle changes, such as losing weight, quit smoking, get more active and cut down on alcohol consumption.
Coventry HLS [https://hlscoventry.org/] partnered with Stuart, founder of ICE Creates [http://www.icecreates.com/], an engagement and behavioural design community, to deliver the 12-week intervention programme and online free self-care platform Best-You.
Best-You is all about inspiring people to create new habits and break old ones, building resilience and wellbeing by allowing users to self-care alongside involvement with the lifestyle service coaches.
Ideas to launch a platform of this kind started with a large piece of research back in 2012 before being launch in 2013. Best-You was founded and sat within Public Health England at a national level as part of one of their pilots for creating whole population wellbeing.
“The platform is all about user tracking and goal setting. Today in real terms there are over 18,000 people on Best-You, we have had 50,000 plus recorded tracked activities, and 12,500 goals set. In the last 12 months we have been running journeys on the platform, which is a specific lifestyle change like healthy weight or reducing alcohol, becoming smoke free or improving mental health over a measured period. We have had 6,800 better life journeys recorded. That gives you a sense of some of the impact of Best-You to date.
“We also know Coventry as a city, measured and recorded as a behaviour change on Best-You at over a tonne of weight lost in just one month alone,” said Stuart.
He tells us the most challenging part of getting Best-You off the ground was pulling people onto the platform and actively using it with limited marketing resource.
“Partnerships and collaborations have been key to the success of Best-You. We have worked hard to achieve face to face work with a cross section of mainly public sector, public health, social care and NHS. This has been through our coaches and the networks and in the future the Primary Care Networks, the Acute Trusts the Social Care Teams, the Social Prescribers are all going to be absolutely vital to getting more people using this wellbeing front door for Coventry.
“We also work with businesses, such as pharmaceutical businesses, FMCG businesses, businesses that are focused on positive change and improving health and wellbeing.”
Stuart was thrilled to win the Digital Innovation Award and believes giving back to the community in a way that helps people build their resilience and become the best versions of themselves is of the highest importance.
“We believe Best-You is ahead of the curve in helping our population make change happen for themselves and are very excited about the impact so far. It can be used by individuals, groups and workplaces and unlike most other social media platforms there is no advertising on the app.
“Best-You promotes community cohesion, creating groups to both share content and behaviour change journeys. We believe this is often an undervalued way of giving back to our community but is important as when communities are activated, great things happen.
“For individuals this tool has improved overall health, mental wellbeing and quality of life. Hundreds of people have lost weight, quit smoking, got more active and cut down on their alcohol consumption by using this tool. In the long-term this means we can also help individuals to reduce the risk of diseases and conditions such as cancer, diabetes, and COPD.
“We don’t believe we can change anyone, but we do believe we can create the environments and opportunities; we can give people support, advice and education and energy to change, but ultimately that change is their choice. Our job is to create a seedbed of change that supports people to grow and become stronger,” he said.
Participation - Victoria Castree
Participation Award winner Victoria Castree gives back to the community of Coventry by encouraging people with lived experience to develop themselves, their strengths, and reach their potential.
Her main role is Scrutiny Co-ordinator for Coventry City Council, and with her recent part time secondment to the public health team to support the Multiple and Complex Needs programme, she has worked creatively to develop the authority’s approach to supporting people with multiple and complex needs at Steps for Change.
“I am passionate about raising the profile of multiple complex needs and improving opportunities for experts by experience to have their voices heard.
“My role has enabled me to give a platform to people with lived experience, through presenting at the scrutiny co-ordination committee. With my scrutiny hat on, scrutiny works best when we’re able to engage with service users and those with lived experiences so the benefits of this were two-fold.” Victoria said.
This includes supporting one of the experts by experience that sits on the scrutiny board for housing through her extended role working on the Multiple Complex Needs Programme for Public Health helping to tackle issues like homelessness, vulnerability and alcohol addiction.
Steps for Change started to grow and expand its influence after the business community contacted the City Council about wanting to do something to help the homeless. It was then that the organisation began a joint up community working approach to improve the situations for those with multiple complex needs and Victoria has been part of that journey.
Victoria was nominated on her commitment, going above and beyond to support people and their projects within the community, being a hands on and part of the clean up day for Steps for Change.
“It has been a fantastic journey working for Steps. I was lucky when I started the programme because it was already well established having been set up by passionate officers and partners who wanted to improve the situation for those with Multiple Complex Needs. It was a fairly steep learning curve to build up my knowledge, but I had great support from those I was working with.
Victoria has also been involved in other projects to help service user:
“As part of the Multiple Complex Needs programme, I've supported the Making Every Adult Matters (MEAM) work which is a national programme which focuses on empowering experts by experience and establishing co-production to provide better outcomes for those at multiple disadvantage through systems flex and change.”
Victoria has also actively worked to encourage ARC, a voluntary partnership for individuals with lived experience of complex need, to develop and flourish.
“A great example of a positive outcome was asking, on behalf of The ARC, who had worked hard with an individual, for flex to be applied to the residential rehab criteria. This was granted and has had a really positive result for this individual.”
Victoria won the Participation Award because of her outstanding contribution in working to improve situations for individuals in Coventry.
“I’m chuffed to have won as it’s really nice that the work and effort I put in has been acknowledged” she said.
“The partners I've worked with on this project are really passionate about getting the best outcomes for individuals and their enthusiasm and commitment meant I wanted to try and go the extra mile to support them to get the best outcomes for those we work with” she said.
Social Value - Coventry Healthy Lifestyles service
The Social Value Contribution was awarded to Coventry Healthy Lifestyles Service [https://hlscoventry.org/] (HLS), following Karen Wagstaff’s efforts working closely with The Canal River Trust to support regeneration of the Canal Basin in the city.
In Karen’s role as Service Manager at HLS – ICE Creates [http://www.icecreates.com/], she works with professionals and communities across Coventry to support clients to make healthy lifestyle choices, she developed strong connections between HLS Coventry [https://hlscoventry.org/], the Mental Health Team at Swanswell Point who work with clients with mental health issues. As well as encouraging their own clients who were looking to get more active and improve their physical activity, Karen worked together with Swanswell to motivate their clients to volunteer in reviving the space as a way of supporting them in being more active and connecting with others.
This project has meant the Canal Basin community garden has had well-needed love and attention, but and providing people with the opportunity to get outside and learn a new skill. Under the guidance of The Canal River Trust the volunteers have been able to take ownership of maintaining the garden and watch their hard work develops into a beautiful space that can be enjoyed by the community.
“This project came about when we met with The Canal River Trust and discussed how we could work in partnership to support our clients and the local community to get more active in the area.
We were going to offer gardening sessions with the help of the Canal Trust and our staff volunteering to support any clients they were currently working with to get out and connect,” Karen said.
The project is now funded by three partners including Coventry Healthy Lifestyles Service [https://hlscoventry.org/], The Canal River Trust and Vagdia & Holms Chartered Architects.
“This small project has now grown, we now have two other partners involved in this project. We have become a group called ‘Project Garden Associates’. We are very lucky to have staff from the Crisis team and from the local architects involved we are certainly getting the business community together.”
Karen says there are going to be more developments taking shape in the near future to include the whole community as well as plans to make the area safer.
“We are now going to adopt the whole area at the end of the building and staff are going to volunteer once a month to help maintain the garden. We will also be encouraging our clients and residents to get involved. We have a nursery behind this building and we hope to involve them at a later date to bring the children and parents down to enjoy the new area.
“We are also looking at how we can make the area feel safer and more open as currently the toilet block within the garden has been boarded for over a year due to unsocial behaviour and vandalism. Our local architect partners are looking at designing a pergola structure to support this. “
The regeneration work of the canal basin has not been the only project Karen has been working on. She’s also part of a research project that has been looking at why some people find it easier to quit smoking than others. It is hoped this research will allow for development of a new product that will have an impact on not only Coventry residents but everyone wanting to kick the habit.
Karen and her team are passionate about helping people make changes that have wider positive impacts on family members and even children and was thrilled to have won the Social Value Contribution Award:
“It’s amazing to have won this award, our journey is just starting, but it is offering up lots of opportunities to work with other organisation and potentially other projects along the canal. The work we are doing in the community is really going places and it is going to get bigger.
“As an organisation we believe in giving back and are firm advocates of championing and empowering others to make better happen. This is done by building confidence, building resilience and supporting people to make changes which support not only the physical but social and mental wellbeing of that person.
"We had our first ground breaking event on the 16 July 2019, a whole afternoon working on the garden. From this we had the equipment and other materials to start offering gardening as an activity on their lifestyle change journey. This is a sign of things to come.”
Healthy Lifestyles Awards
The Forum Health Centre – Most NHS Health Checks
The Forum completed 243 NHS Health Checks in the last 6 months of 2018/19. They have adopted a whole team approach ensuring that health checks are a priority for the practice. They are extremely proactive in targeting their eligible population and get a good response from patients taking up the opportunity.
Walsgrave Health Centre – Most improved NHS Health Checks
The Walsgrave Health Centre team, although not a large team, have managed to improve their uptake for Health Checks by 40%. A large part of this can be attributed to the practice’s healthcare assistant who is passionate about the role and preventing ill health. Together with the reception team they work to maximise activity and encourage people to have health checks.
Chemycare, Ringwood Highway – Most 4 week and 12 week smoking quits by a Pharmacy
Chemycare has excelled in 2018/2019 achieving both the most 4 week and 12 week quits. This is mainly due to the brilliant partnership between the pharmacist and the advisor. Tracy, the pharmacy assistant, works hard proactively encouraging her clients to keep them engaged and motivated to quit.
Mansfield Medical Centre – Most 4 week smoking quits by a GP practice
Mansfield Medical Centre achieved most 4 week quits in 2018/2019. They have two health care assistants based within the practice who deliver stop smoking services. They share clients, support each other and when one is on holiday the other can cover. This means there is always someone available to support clients and reduces the risk of losing them if no-one is available when they need support.
Allesley Park Medical Centre – Most 12 week smoking quits by a GP practice
Allesley Park Medical Centre achieved most 12 week quits in 2018/2019. This is a fantastic achievement to get patients to a 12 week quit, as it is not easy. The team within the practice work together to ensure that the patients feel supported and empowered to make that change.
Photos from this year's event
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/coventrycc/albums/72157710107215122]
Healthy School Award - Henley Green Primary School
Stephanie Ghafoor at Henley Green
Stephanie, Early Years Foundation Leader at Henley Green School, worked in partnership with the Be Active Be Healthy Team, who are part of our Family Health and Wellbeing Services run by SWFT. They worked together to run a new early years pilot of family activity, offering a 6 week programme for parents and 0-5’s.
In previous years the team has tried to deliver ‘One Body One Life’ after school and had limited engagement from families. Stephanie involved parents in designing the programme, including what topics they wanted to see included, which helped them commit to attending each week. The programme ran successfully with 14 families, culminating with a wonderful cooking session where all the families got involved and came together as a team, creating a healthy chickpea curry to take away.
The feedback from parents ranged from thanking the team for helping them understand how to eat healthily, to telling them that the programme has helped one parent change their life, signing up to CBT therapy after a session around mental wellbeing.
The nominator said the programme “would not have happened without Stephanie’s support and constant encouragement of the families.”
Promoting Positive Change - Superdrug
Superdrug Pharmacy, Hertford Street
This award was voted for by CGL service users and staff for pharmacies supporting drug and alcohol users - recognising great work keeping service users safe and caring about their wellbeing. Superdrug provides a needle exchange and dispenses opioid substitute medication for CGL clients. They regularly call to speak to workers to check in with them if they have concerns about a client.
Some of the comments from CGL staff were:
“We aim to keep all our service users safe and Superdrug are really are on board with this. They provide an extra pair of eyes and have great communication skills. They care about our service users’ wellbeing and this comes across in abundance, what more could we wish for”
“I have seen first-hand how they dispense and treat our clients, have great rapport with them and always try to build a good working relationship”
“Superdrug offer a non-judgemental service to some of my most ‘difficult’ service-users’, happy to convey messages to those in the homeless community. I have found all staff to be helpful and professional in my interactions with myself and service users”.
Service Users said:
“They speak to me like I’m a normal person”
“Happy, friendly service, remind me of my appointments with the Dr”
“Wicked – really nice staff”
“Most convenient chemist, friendly staff and helpful for reminding me of next appointment, non-judgemental” – from a homeless service user
“I’ve been offered great advice around my other medications”
Innovative Community Engagement for Pharmacy - Vantage Chemist
This award recognises examples of work done by pharmacies to promote health and wellbeing in their heart of their community. This award was voted on by the LPC and public health representatives.
Vantage Chemist are really proactive in helping their patients and go beyond dispensing drugs. Having seen a rise in mental health prescriptions they dispense, they thought this was something they could help with, so they held an anxiety workshop at the Pharmacy.
Patients were invited to anxiety sessions at the pharmacy run by a specialist mental health practitioner. Feedback was fantastic, with several patients asking for more sessions to be put on. These were also combined with a fund raising drive for Coventry and Warwickshire MIND.
Quote from the pharmacy: “We want patients to know they are never alone. We will be doing more sessions like this, giving our community more opportunities to come in.“
Director of Public Health's Award for Outstanding Contribution
Melissa Russell from Change Grow Live
Melissa is a recovery worker in Change, Grow, Live's complex needs team and was nominated by service users for going above and beyond to help her clients.
Those nominating Melissa said she is always encouraging and supportive, believing in everyone and never gives up on anyone. She has helped people turn their lives around and have a more positive future.
Steven Bliss from Change Grow Live
Steve is the harm reduction lead at Change Grow Live and was nominated by service users for his enthusiastic and unceasing promotion of Naloxone and overdose awareness to prevent deaths within our city.
CGL has issued over 500 Naloxone kits to service users since 2018 and have trained hundreds of service users and workers in their use. These are kits which prevent death from a heroin overdose and have undoubtedly saved lives.
He was also nominated for taking volunteers and peer mentors under his wing to support, encourage and help them develop to the best they can be.
Beth Foulstone from St Elizabeth's Primary School in Coventry
Beth is a learning mentor at St Elizabeth's primary school. She's an ambitious, energetic and enthusiastic mentor and goes well beyond her school duties to support and drive whole school initiatives, initiatives that make an enormous difference to our parents and children.
She's worked with a huge range of organisations - everything from organising visits by the Coventry Law Centre for the school's immigrant families to work with the police on street safety.
She was nominated by school colleagues who said her "professional, consistent and nurturing approach builds confidence with parents, in which they feel confident to share their fears and know they won't be judged and will always receive support from school."
Councillor Kamran Caan
Cllr Caan is cabinet member for public health and sport, Cllr Caan is a fantastic advocate for improving health and wellbeing within our city with a specific focus on inequalities and the needs of our diverse communities. He has championed the approach we are taking though our 2019 Year of Wellbeing.
Photos from this year's event
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/coventrycc/albums/72157710106106366]
Health Heroes
Kath Podmore
Kath volunteers with Change Grow Live and is a stalwart of the local recovery community, with a wealth of personal recovery experience.
Kath has a long record of service within the substance misuse community and sees her contribution as a chance to give something back for all the support she received along her pathway, a chance to be valued and to be of service.
Kath is a caring, considerate individual, who provides a smile, a cuppa and an empathetic ear, she has been nicknamed ‘Nanny Kath’ by her peers, and is appreciated and greatly valued. She was nominated by staff at CGL.
Mark Gibbins
Mark runs Coventry Men’s Shed project, he engages men over the age of 30 who are recovering from issues like alcohol and drug abuse and men who are socially isolated and have mental health issues.
Mark has used his lived experience to help other men who are struggling with things like stress, anxiety and a lack of confidence.
The strength of Marks work is that he creates a comfortable environment where men can speak freely without being judged. He was nominated by the Council’s community resilience team.
Bernice Higgins
Bernice manages Peggies Park Community Centre in Foleshill. The centre provides hot meals and a food bank for people who are homeless, unemployed, and people living in poverty in low paid employment. Many of the service users are recovering from substance abuse and having access to a hot meal twice weekly goes a long way to aiding their recovery.
Bernice cooks, serves and washes up afterwards along with other volunteers, but her real strength is her ability to listen, giving people a sympathetic ear in which to offload their problems.
Bernice is 74 years old and has a visual impairment and in spite of her disabilities she continues to do everything she can to give people less fortunate than herself a better quality of life. Her nominator - from Council’s community resilience team - says Bernice is an inspiration to others as to what can be achieved.
Sam Barker
Sam is a volunteer with CGL and is a key member of the ARC recovery community organisation. She helps service users with complex drug and alcohol issues and no job is too small or too big for her.
Sam is in recovery herself and during this time she has had to deal with many traumatic situations in her personal life but she never misses attending CGL to ensure she is offering support to the service and community.
Her nominator says Sam is a valued member of the CGL team and would all like to recognise and say thank you for all the work that Sam does and for giving three days a week out of her own time to continue supporting the service and Coventry community. She was nominated by a staff member from CGL
The ARC
Ayriss Recovery Coventry (ARC) is an organisation set up and run entirely by experts by experience who want to support people affected by drugs and alcohol.
ARC was set up the founding members identifying gaps in support which they didn't want others to experience. They’re a key partner in projects like the Steps for Change drop in centre, and want to show people there is hope and that recovery is possible.
ARC relieves pressure from services and improves clients quality of life and wellbeing. ARC currently works as a fully voluntary organisation and give their time to help others because they want to offer a better service and quality of life to all they work with.
Photos from this year's event
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/coventrycc/albums/72157710106167641]