What's it like to be a health champion in a GP practice?
“Bridging the gap between staff and patients” – Collaborative Practice at Meopham Medical Centre
Collaborative Practice is a new model of care that helps to reduce pressure and meet demand in busy health care settings. We often hear about how developing Collaborative Practice in GP surgeries benefits patients and impacts positively on the staff team. But what is it like to be a health champion in a practice, supporting this work to develop? Some of the health champions at Meopham Medical Centre in Kent told us what they thought.
Giving back
Pat Brennan, Health champion
Pat Brennan is a champion at the practice. He says, “When we first joined the group and found out what we would be called, ‘champions’ seemed strange. But once we’d all met up and started to work together during the vaccination clinics, and then seeing each other at the ‘park, walk and talk’ group, we’ve since formed a very close ‘champions bond’!”
Pat says the champions are united in wanting to support not just the work of the practice but also people in their local community and finding ways to do that is especially rewarding.
Carol Dolbear, Health champion
Carol Dolbear, another champion at the practice, agrees, and also feels that collaborating with the practice team is part of what makes the role fulfilling. She says, “I have enjoyed being one of the champions, as it has given me the opportunity to give something back to the practice that has served me and my family so well since I moved to the area in 1974. The business of ‘giving back’ has been the most rewarding aspect of being a champion.”
Bridging the gap
“We seem to be ‘bridging the gap’ between the working staff and the patients.”
Pat has seen the impact champions can have on patients attending the practice. “I have found that while volunteering on vaccination days, at first people would come in with long faces and not seem very sociable. But over time I’ve noticed that attitude has changed, because as champions we are talking and joking with them as they are waiting to have their jab. We seem to be ‘bridging the gap’ between the working staff and the patients. I personally find this great to be part of and we also get feedback as people are leaving and they come back in to thank us.”
The community garden created by Lea and other health champions at Meopham Medical Centre
Another champion at the practice, Lea Dehaney, says that although supporting the champions has meant staff having to do some things differently, his experience has been that staff do so, “willingly and cheerfully”.
Carol agrees, saying that, “From day one, I have found all the staff very friendly and helpful”. Getting involved at the practice also means gaining an insight into what it’s like to work there. Carol says, “I have got to know the staff much better and appreciate how busy and innovative they are.”
Breaking down barriers
Both Pat and Carol are part of the ‘park, walk and talk’ group, led by the champions. Pat says this is the activity he is most pleased with and that it breaks down barriers to communication. He says, “I have found that people are more at ease whilst walking in the park, and seem happy to talk openly in the fresh air.”
Supporting healthier lives
For Lea, what he most enjoys about being a champion relates to a feeling of impact. He says, “At a time when I feel unable to influence the bigger picture, being a champion has provided an opportunity to make a small difference to the local community.” He hopes that in the future even more patients will participate and get involved.
“I have always been interested in the prevention of ill health.”
Carol is a retired nurse and health visitor and is enjoying bringing her experience and ideas into primary care. She also has hopes for the future development of activities.
“I have always been interested in the prevention of ill health. I have been involved in the past with sessions taking blood pressure and glucose levels for people who just turn up and have been amazed at the levels of hypertension and diabetes that were discovered for the first time. We’ve discussed ideas about this and it would be great to see this happen.”
“The champions are great at coming up with ideas for how we can do things differently in the practice”
Building warmth
Vicky McCarthy, Assistant Practice Manager at Meopham Medical Centre, says, “The champions are great at coming up with ideas for how we can do things differently in the practice. They also come in and help us with things like vaccination clinics, where they talk to people while they’re waiting and then guide them in when it’s their turn.
“The practice feels a lot more community-focused. The patients see the benefit and it’s helping to build warmth in the relationship between staff and patients.
“I would definitely recommend this approach to other practices – in fact, I already have.”
Read more about the changes a Collaborative Practice approach has made at Meopham Medical Practice.