Health workers are to be sent door-to-door in a bid to detect illnesses in deprived areas and reduce the burden on GPs as part of the government’s 10-year Health Plan for the NHS.
Set to be launched in June, each worker will be responsible for 120-150 households, which they visit once each month to help residents with a myriad of issues, including their health. Community health and wellbeing workers (CHWW) are already deployed in 12 areas of England, with 13 others to follow.
This follows a 2021 pilot in Westminster which found that such visits were associated with a drop of 10% A&E visits and a 7.3% fall in unplanned GP appointments for unexpected medical problems. The pilot also showed that visited patients were 82% more likely to attend a cancer screening and undergo an NHS health check.
CHWW workers are not clinically trained staff and primarily consist of members of the community who are trained for the role.
The approach has already been adopted in Cornwall, having launched in 2023. The service has been contracted by the local ICS to a local charity. However, in other areas across the country, the visitors are affiliated to GP practices.
