Case studies

Wolverhampton has revolutionised its health visiting services through a strategic partnership with the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (RWT). This case study delves into the intricate challenges, innovative solutions, impactful outcomes, and valuable lessons learned from this shift and its implications for public health and the health visiting space.

This case study forms part of a children's public health transfer resource. On 1 August 2017, the council transferred all of its children’s services to a community interest company owned by the council and two other local authorities.  

In Herefordshire we knew that we had rising numbers of EY children with SEND. Our ambition was to have an Early Years SEND service that encompasses a holistic approach to the early identification, support of, provision for and placement of Early Years children with SEND.

Mental health problems can impact anybody at any stage of their life. Many people are scared to open up about mental health issues but Hertfordshire Council and partner agencies from across the county made it their mission to help change this. They wanted to raise awareness and normalise speaking out about mental health, particularly among boys and young men. Jen Beer, children and young people’s health improvement lead for public health at Hertfordshire County Council, tells us how their campaign to get people to ‘Just Talk’ won a bronze public service communications excellence award.

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.

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.

From August 2019 – May 2021, the London Borough of Hounslow and Ogilvy Consulting’s Behavioural Science Practice collaborated on a rigorous behavioural insights trial to effectively test ways to increase recycling in high-rise properties.

The current housing and homelessness strategy (2019-2024) has as one its four core themes ‘improving the use of existing homes’.

City of York Council has introduced a “Quickwins” Energy Efficiency Support Service to support its tenants with improving the energy efficiency of their homes and reducing the cost of fuel bills.

The Royal Borough of Kingston is committed to increasing the use of participatory democracy to develop responses to difficult issues. As a result, the council held our first Citizens’ Assembly, asking residents “how do we collectively improve air quality in Kingston?”.