ICB Chair Dr Kathy McLean tours Barrow Hill Memorial Hall Hub and meets Place Alliance team
ICB Chair Dr Kathy McLean was treated to a tour of the renovations at Barrow Hill Memorial Hall Hub with colleagues from the Chesterfield Place Alliance during her latest visit to see integrated care in action.
Dr McLean met with representatives from Chesterfield Borough Council, Active Derbyshire, the Barrow Hill Community Trust, general practice, Derbyshire Voluntary Action and local Community Interest Company Community Growth as part of the day at the Haven community centre.
They discussed the background to partnership working to reduce health inequalities in Barrow Hill, a suburb of Chesterfield. The area has a population of nearly 1,500 but is one of the most deprived areas in Derbyshire where life expectancy is almost 10 years shorter than in neighbouring affluent areas.
A programme of work to help improve the area is underway with Place partners having come together over the last few years to build trust and relationships with each other and the public.
The Memorial Hall is one of only a few amenities in the town and has been closed for the last few years. It is now being renovated thanks to the Barrow Hill Community Trust which has plans to reinvigorate it as a hub for local people providing social activities, health and care services, a breakfast club, women’s services, housing and much more. The capital build on the project is being supported by the Staveley Town Deal.
Dr McLean said: “It’s clear just how much work has gone into building up the right support network for Barrow Hill and creating the right environment for us to start engaging meaningfully with the public, listening to what they need and acting on their wishes.
“As part of the ten-year plan engagement for the NHS, we are listening to communities to ask them about the three shifts of the Darzi Review to community, prevention and digital. But this is an on-going exercise, and Barrow Hill shows that we’re already trying to do this proactive work and will continue to do this even after the ten-year plan is written because it’s the right thing to do.
“It ensures we can hear from groups who find it harder to access services, often people who need the most support. Chesterfield Place partners are a great example of a local team putting in the hard yards to address health inequalities with a real opportunity to shift the dial.”
Longer term the partners want to ensure the Memorial Hall Hub is sustainable and that its impact is evaluated.
Dr Alice Fenton, GP and local place alliance clinical lead, said: “It was fantastic to bring Kathy to the area and show her some of the challenges and opportunities of our work at Place.
“We know there are people in Barrow Hill dying in their 40s from avoidable heart disease and strokes and there is a lot we can do to prevent that. But we need to work with the community to build trust and support them to access what they need as well as what we think they need.”
Donna Booth and Natalie Peace, from the Community Interest Company Community Growth, help people reconnect and heal through nature.
They said: “We’re two best friends who grew up here and wanted to improve life chances for local people. Our organisation has always struggled to be heard but now through this alliance we’ve finally found a better balance between the relationships and feel like we can have a bigger impact. We’re all working together for the same outcomes.”
Barrow Hill Community Trust health and wellbeing lead Dr Greg Connor added: “Barrow Hill has a proud history but has been neglected. Working together as one team to serve the needs of local people and their families will help create the happy, healthy and thriving village which everyone wants – with the revitalised Memorial Hall at its heart.”