Case studies

Hertfordshire County Council wanted to improve the quality of care providers in the council, reboot relationships with them and put them into the driving seat in developing a sector led approach. This forms part of our adult social care markets and commissioning resource.

Staff running chair-based exercise classeshave started to use sensors and tablets to assess the falls risk of clients and helpingthem tailor exercise programmes. Theprogramme has been used in care homes andis now being tested in community settings.

From March to October 2021, there was a reported increased in the number of suicide attempts, fatalities, and interventions at Stevenage train station. A Task and Finish Group was set up to quickly explore what support could be offered locally to people in crisis at the station. A NightLight crisis café has been opened close to the station, with 108 visits in the first month alone. This case study was done jointly with the National Suicide Prevention Alliance and forms part of our suicide prevention resource.

Hertfordshire’s whole systems approach to child obesity includes a successful weight management service, an active school travel plan that discourages car drop-offs, and 10 “healthy hubs”.

In recognition that staff on the frontline, responding to COVID, faced challenges around uncertainty, working arrangements and personal anxiety, Adult Care Services set out a Wellbeing Plan that complemented the council-wide offer and aimed to support this unique workforce through the difficult period.

A network of healthy hubs has been set up across Hertfordshire on high streets, in leisure centres, at food banks and in community halls to take health and wellbeing services out to the public.

With the seven-day working strategy, Hertfordshire aimed to improve the flow from the acute into the community, ensuring discharges are not delayed over the weekend while service users wait for a package of care due to processes outside of the Monday to Friday norm. This example of a local initiative forms part of our managing transfers of care resource.

Hertfordshire County Council has successfully targeted a number of the marginalised groups included on the government’s at-risk list. Outreach work with the local traveller community was particularly successful with the public health team working with key influencers in the community to engage people through social media.

Hertfordshire County Council has set up a public health funding pot to help district councils get projects off the ground. Over the past five years over £2 million has been transferred, creating a wide-range of schemes aimed at improving the health of residents. This case study shows how district councils have improved the health of their local areas.

Oldham Council have commissioned KeyRing to provide flexible help through networks made up of 10 people with learning disabilities who are then supported by a community living volunteer and community enablers to help people gain independence and life skills.