Can we do health and care differently? A case study

In January 2024, colleagues worked together to deliver a new way of supporting people with musculoskeletal conditions. A 'how-to guide' has now been created, with our partners at Optum, to utilise the learning from it. Here is a piece explaining how this came about...

A blog by Matt Evans, Senior Change Manager, It's All About People Personalisation Programme

The problem

As you’d expect from the It’s All About People Personalisation Programme Team, we spend a lot of time talking with people who are on health and care journeys, including those with musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions such as hip and knee pain and arthritis.

We hear about what’s going well, but more often we hear their frustrations - frustrations about being bounced around between care providers, the long waits for treatment, and living with pain without knowing “Am I making it worse?”

So, it’s clear change is needed in managing and supporting people’s journeys. Can we honestly continue to work in the same way but expect different results?

However, within a stretched healthcare system, rallying and building support to try different ways of working can be a challenge.

The birth of a solution

It’s now a year since we delivered the Grantham Joint Aches and Pains Hub in January 2024.

This pop-up health hub or ‘health village’ event was devised to support people with musculoskeletal conditions.

Inspired by what was happening in other parts of the country to reduce health and care waiting times, we started taking some of the ideas we discovered to our co-production groups.

Through the co-production process, it soon became apparent that many people with MSK conditions just wanted quick answers and self-care education. They didn’t want to “bother” their GP so didn’t reach out for support.

It also became clear that many people didn’t know what else was available in their community in terms of care and support options - and neither, it emerged, did the practitioners we were working with.

So, we decided to plan an event – the Grantham Joint Aches and Pains Hub - to address these issues. This would take place at Grantham Meres Leisure Centre, an ‘informal’ and deliberately non-clinical local setting.

We began by analysing local-level population health data (using the Lincolnshire linked data toolset). This allowed us to match people with MSK conditions with existing local support groups and programmes.

We then invited these providers to take part in the Hub event and contribute to a rich showcase of health, care and wellbeing programmes, services and other opportunities for people living with MSK conditions – a local pop-up ‘one-stop-shop’ for joint pain!

Good Boost is a great example of one of the support programmes we discovered through the planning process and invited to showcase their offer at the hub. This physical activity programme helps people to manage their joint pain and other health conditions and takes place at Grantham Mere’s Leisure Centre itself.

Valuable insight gathered!

ROC Research independently evaluated the Grantham Joint Aches and Pains Hub and the ways of working that surrounded it. Over 150 people with MSK conditions had attended on the day, and the resulting report found that the event created a wide range of opportunities for them to access, interact with, and consume health and social care services and information differently.

The sense of community at the event was also key to its success: professional silos were broken down, and participating partners worked together to provide a diverse and joined-up range of support for visiting members of the public. A community of health, care and wellbeing support was created around an MSK community that needed support.

Read the Grantham Aches and Pains Hub Insight and Learning report.

A guide for a better future

The valuable insight and learning from the Grantham Joint Aches and Pains Hub has led to the creation of a Pop-up Health Hub Event 'How To' Guide - DOWNLOAD THE GUIDE from the side panel.

Written with our partners at Optum, it is based on the seven overarching principles of the Grantham Hub event. It provides tips and insight for colleagues wishing to deliver their own pop-up health hub event.

The seven principles of a successful hub event are:

• Using Population Health Management (PHM) data to make the most of what we have available to us
• Understanding what matters to people
• Working together for the wellbeing of everyone
• Making it personal
• Getting the messaging right
• Making an impact with your event planning
• Knowing you did a good thing

The guide springs from a beautiful synergy between the personalisation agenda and the population health management approach.

It proposes different ways of working that support people to feel more engaged and confident in managing their conditions, and their health and wellbeing more generally.

We are delighted that colleagues have started to use the guide when planning their own events.

Each event builds momentum for working in new ways, helping joined-up and person-centred care become ‘the way we do things’ in Lincolnshire.

We are still very much at the start of something, but as the movement grows, health and care colleagues, and the people they support, are beginning to see new opportunities where previously they just saw the same approaches leading to the same outcomes.

So, can we really do health and care differently?

As the development and implementation of the health hub model shows, success requires that all involved parties and partners, both workforce and public…

• Have and give permission to do things differently.
• Are open to change and acknowledge it will take time.
• Have patience and learn by doing.

These three principles also happen to describe Our Shared Agreement, Foundation 1: Being prepared to do things differently.

The It’s All About People Personalisation Team lives and operates by these principles, and we actively promote their adoption by our growing movement of partners, as we work with them to embed personalisation across health, care, and wellbeing provision in Lincolnshire.

And day in, day out, whether from health and care colleagues and partner organisations, or from members of the public, we see examples where thinking and working differently is leading to better opportunities and creating better outcomes – just like in the health hub case study above.

So, can we do health and care differently? Yes, we can!

If you want to talk to us about how you and your organisation can work differently, contact us at lhnt.itsallaboutpeople@nhs.net ​