Having different organisations host meetings and talk about their work is just one of the things which has helped a healthy communities group to attract new members.
The Healthy Communities Steering Group at Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (KCHFT) has also held spotlight sessions focussing on a particular subject and introduced an online portal so information can be shared. Changes have been made with the aim of improving the diversity of the group and to make sure a variety of organisations and health needs are represented.
Project lead Helen Merrick, Health Inequalities and Partnerships Manager at KCHFT, aimed to increase the number of external members from 23 per cent to 50 per cent. However, the changes resulted in membership growing from 35 to 124, with external members, those not staff members at KCHFT, increasing to 61 per cent.
