What inspired you to apply to be a Core20PLUS5 Ambassador? 
The Core20PLUS5 Ambassador role is a great opportunity to raise awareness of the importance prevention and health inequalities health interventions. I applied because I want my work to make a difference to health outcomes for those who can find it difficult to access healthcare services, whether that is due to physical/language barriers, cultural reasons, lack of understanding or trust of healthcare services. As a system we should be working together to improve access, experience and outcomes of healthcare for all. 

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?
I have been leading on the NHS Tobacco prevention workstream for the ICB and smoking cessation runs through all five of the clinical areas of Core20PLUS5.  I am really keen to see further progress in tobacco prevention for people with serious mental illness as this is a population group where there can be stark health inequalities with the rest of the population. 

Projects / initiatives / work programmes relating to prevention and health inequalities which you are currently working on: 
Currently my main work programmes include the NHS Long Term Plan tobacco prevention treatment programme, alcohol treatment care pathways, and the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme.  
In my role as Prevention lead I have also helped to co-ordinate our local Core20PLUS5 Ambassador network and I attend regular NHSE South East prevention and health inequalities forums to share and learn how we can improve our Core20PLUS5 focus in our patch. 

Contact: alina.mackenzie1@nhs.net

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?

• Research and/or innovation
• Adults
• Digital inclusion

What skills/knowledge would you like to increase/gain through the Core20PLUS5 Ambassadors Programme?

• Leadership
• Health promotion and education
• Knowledge and understanding of health inequalities

Projects / initiatives / work programmes relating to prevention and health inequalities which you are currently working on:

Will be able to reduce paperwork and maximise Human Resources in providing quality healthcare system. This would affect the healthcare workers by utilising their skills, knowledge and experience to improve safe and quality healthcare. As a nurse and digital champion, I would like to contribute and apply my knowledge and experience in working in a paperless industry and prioritise the quality of care.

Contact: Al-Shamir.Alli@porthosp.nhs.uk

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?

• Maternity
• Older adults
• Disability, learning disability and Autism
• Community language translation and interpretation
• Diabetes (Children and Young People)
• Asthma (Children and Young People)

What skills/knowledge would you like to increase/gain through the Core20PLUS5 Ambassadors programme?

• Knowledge and understanding of health inequalities
• Health promotion and education
• Leadership

Contact: gm.anapalomo@gmail.com

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?

• Inclusion health (Homelessness, coastal, rural, etc)
• Digital inclusion
• Community language translation and interpretation
• Data for improvement (Data analysis)
• Quality improvement
• Deprivation and/or coastal/rural communities
• Race equality
• Ethnic minority communities

What skills/knowledge would you like to increase/gain through the Core20PLUS5 Ambassadors programme?

• Networking
• Cultural competence
• Knowledge and understanding of health inequalities

Projects / initiatives / work programmes relating to prevention and health inequalities which you are currently working on: 

Plan- To actively increase the capturing of ethnicity of patients that we serve across the HIOW ICB at GP Surgeries across the ~HIOW ICB. Investigate further and understand the cohort of patients where ethnicity has not been recorded at a Primary Care Level - utilise this information and work with the Community Leads in the area to help us engage with this cohort of patients to understand and resolve the perceived barriers, capture present experience with a view to provide better care.

Measurement of Progress:
Baseline: ethnicity recorded for numbers of patients registered at their local surgery, improvement in the recording ideally 100% as the recording of a patients ethnicity by Primary is mandatory.
Patient Experience - Patient Stories -  improved perception with tailored care  and digital inclusion.

Conclusion/outcome - GP Surgeries now have 100% of their registered patients with a recorded ethnicity.
We have a better understanding of what our patients and communities need.
We have a better relationship with our community leaders.

Contact: beatrice.upton@nhs.net

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?

• Cancer
• Adults
• Culture, communications and/or stakeholder engagement
• Digital inclusion
• Making Every Contact Count (MECC)
• Leadership capability and education

What skills/knowledge would you like to increase/gain through the Core20PLUS5 Ambassadors programme?

• Health promotion and education
• Leadership
• Networking

Projects / initiatives / work programmes relating to prevention and health inequalities which you are currently working on: 

Improve access to End Of Treatment Summaries: Every cancer patient (regardless of socioeconomic background) and their GP will receive a detailed EOTS to ensure understanding of their treatment, follow-up care plans, and risks for recurrence. 

• Develop materials in multiple languages and accessible formats (large print, easy-read) - different linguistic and literacy needs.
• Staff Training: on cultural competence (fears of patients from diverse backgrounds)
• Assist patients experiencing language barriers.
• Reach out to patients from deprived backgrounds who may be at higher risk of not receiving adequate support
• Enhanced Support Services
• Simplify Administrative Burden
• Utilise Technology (provide patients with easy access to their medical information and care plans)
• Reach undeserved populations in community, disseminate information, provide support, advocate for patients’ needs and tailor interventions accordingly.
• Analyse data on different demographic groups to identify disparities and inform targeted interventions.
• Establish continuous feedback (systems underrepresented groups)

Contact: edit.galambos@porthosp.nhs.uk

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?

• Cancer
• Inclusion health (Homelessness, coastal, rural etc)
• Data for improvement (Data analysis)
• Health literacy
• Quality improvement
• Deprivation and/or coastal/rural communities
• Race equality
• Disability, learning disability and Autism
• Culture, communications and/or stakeholder engagement
• Children and Young People
• Ethnic minority communities
• Community language translation and interpretation
• Leadership capability and education
• Gender (male and female health)
• Research and/or innovation
• Adults
• Older adults

What skills/knowledge would you like to increase/gain through the Core20PLUS5 Ambassadors programme?

• Networking
• Leadership
• Health promotion and education

Projects / initiatives / work programmes relating to prevention and health inequalities which you are currently working on: 

Currently, people with a learning disability are likely to die 15 years earlier than the general population and cancer accounts for around 16% of avoidable deaths.  Bowel cancer is a particular issue, affecting people with a learning disability more often and at a younger age.  We want to work with people with LD, Cancer Research UK, GPs and hospital trusts to think about how to improve outcomes for people with LD with respect to bowel cancer.  We hope to achieve awareness raising, coproduced with people, and improvements in screening uptake and the inclusion of cancer conversations in annual healthchecks.

Contact: emma.leatherbarrow@wca.uhs.nhs.uk

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?

• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
• Cardiovascular Disease (CVD)
• Smoking cessation
• Asthma (Children and Young People)
• Diabetes (Children and Young People)
• Digital inclusion
• Making Every Contact Count (MECC)

What skills/knowledge would you like to increase/gain through the Core20PLUS5 Ambassadors programme?

• Health promotion and education
• Networking
• Knowledge and understanding of health inequalities

Contact: faye.collins@nhs.net

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?

• Digital inclusion
• Inclusion health (homelessness, coastal, rural etc)
• Making Every Contact Count (MECC)
• Quality improvement
• Deprivation and/or coastal rural communities
• Research and/or innovation
• Children and Young People
• Ethnic minority communities
• Disability, learning disability and Autism
• Leadership capability and educaiton

What skills/knowledge would you like to increase/gain through the Core20PLUS5 Ambassadors programme?

• Opportunities for improvements linked to sustainability and green agenda
• Health promotion and education
• Cultural competence

Projects / initiatives / work programmes relating to prevention and health inequalities which you are currently working on: 

I am currently looking to conduct service audits/evaluations linked to sustainability improvements and demonstrate opportunity/contribution to high quality care in a climate crisis. I believe this would affect the local population in treatments chosen/provided, improving the health and well being of rural/coastal populations of mixed ethnicity and cultural heritage. In 12 months time I expect to have carried out a first phase of evaluations and audit, to develop an understanding of further opportunity for change and be in a position to carry out further improvement projects. I am seeking to include all of this within my PhD which I start in September 2024.

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?

• Gender (Female health)
• Leadership capability and education
• Data for improvement (Data analysis)

What skills/knowledge would you like to increase/gain through the Core20PLUS5 Ambassadors programme?

• Health promotion and education
• Leadership
• Knowledge and understanding of health inequalities

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?

• Ethnic minority communities
• Culture, communications and/or stakeholder engagement
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
• Digital Inclusion
• Inclusion health (Homelessness, coastal, rural, etc)
• Making Every Contact Count (MECC)
• Community language translation and interpretation
• Deprivation and/or coastal/rural communities
• Race equality

What skills/knowledge would you like to increase/gain through the Core20PLUS5 Ambassadors programme?

• Leadership
• Cultural competence
• Knowledge and understanding of health inequalities

Contact: james.gagliardini2@nhs.net

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?

• Mental health
• Smoking cessation
• Mental health (Children and Young People)
• Digital inclusion
• Inclusion health (Homelessness, coastal, rural etc)
• Data for improvement (Data analysis)
• Making Every Contact Count (MECC)
• Health literacy
• Anchors and social value
• Quality improvement
• Community language translation and interpretation
• Leadership capability and education
• Deprivation and/or coastal/rural communities
• Race equality
• Gender (Male and female health)
• Disability, learning disability and Autism
• Culture, communications and/or stakeholder engagement
• Research and/or innovation
• Adults
• Children and Young People
• Ethnic minority communities

What skills/knowledge would you like to increase/gain through the Core20PLUS5 Ambassadors programme?

• Networking
• Cultural competence
• Knowledge and understanding of health inequalities

Projects / initiatives / work programmes relating to prevention and health inequalities which you are currently working on: 

We are in the throes of creating a new Trust that will cover the entirety of Hampshire & Isle of Wight.  Population Health and Health Inequalities will be a founding core objective of the new Trust.  There is a great deal of opportunity to improve the health outcomes, life expectancy and community connectedness of our diverse population through this work, as we collaborate with partners.

My improvement project will likely be determined by the priority areas we’re already working towards, i.e. PCREF, SMI Physical Healthchecks, and data recording/accuracy, to evidence the impact of this work.

Contact: Jon.Pritchard@Southernhealth.nhs.uk

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?

• Cancer
• Smoking cessation
• Cardiovascular Disease (CVD)
• Inclusion health (Homelessness, coastal, rural etc)
• Digital inclusion
• Deprivation and/or coastal/rural communities
• Race equality
• Ethnic minority communities

What skills/knowledge would you like to increase/gain through the Core20PLUS5 Ambassadors programme?

• Cultural competence
• Knowledge and understanding of health inequalities
• Leadership

Projects / initiatives / work programmes relating to prevention and health inequalities which you are currently working on: 

Improve recording of ethnicity in general practice. This would enable better evaluation of inequalities in health provision for ethnic minorities for access to care, experience and provision of care and health outcomes. I plan to explore the data to enable looking at practices or PCNs that perform well in this aspect of data collection and what they have done to achieve this. I will also look at the subset of their population for which they have not managed to record the ethnicity and any possible reasons or patterns. I will also look at the practices and PCNs where the rates of ethnicity recording are low to see of there is any pattern. I intend to share learning and develop a toolkit that can be disseminated across general practice to improve ethnicity recording.

Contact: katie.dixon@nhs.net

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?

• Digital inclusion
• Data for improvement (Data analysis)
• Children and Young People
• Adults

What skills/knowledge would you like to increase/gain through the Core20PLUS5 Ambassadors programme?

• Knowledge and understanding of health inequalities
• Health promotion and education
• Leadership

Projects / initiatives / work programmes relating to prevention and health inequalities which you are currently working on: 

• Digital inclusion

Contact: kaye.taylor-ryall@nhs.net

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?

• Epilepsy (Children and Young People)
• Disability, learning disability and Autism
• Children and Young People

What skills/knowledge would you like to increase/gain through the Core20PLUS5 Ambassadors programme?

• Knowledge and understanding of health inequalities
• Cultural competence
• Networking

Projects / initiatives / work programmes relating to prevention and health inequalities which you are currently working on: 

Project undefined but likely to access on improved access to genomic testing for adults with learning disabilities and autism who are currently very underserved.

Another core group who I support are families who are care experienced and could look at ways to better support and engage birth families where appropriate. 

Contact: kimberley.bradbury@uhs.nhs.uk

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?

• Quality improvement
• Leadership capability and education
• Culture, communications and/or stakeholder engagement

What skills/knowledge would you like to increase/gain through the Core20PLUS5 Ambassadors programme?

• Leadership

Contact: kirsty.rolt@nhs.net

What inspired you to apply to be a Core20PLUS5 Ambassador? 
I am passionate about reducing the inequalities faced by our most vulnerable and deprived communities.  My role as the Race Equality Lead naturally leans me towards a focus on Ethnic Minority communities and my role involves specific engagement with communities who have a lower vaccine uptake and lower access to healthcare. 

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?
I am a member of a local systemwide Health Inequalities Network and also work alongside another colleague who has previously registered as a core20Plus ambassador. 

Projects / initiatives / work programmes relating to prevention and health inequalities which you are currently working on: 
My role spans both the NHS Workforce and Local Populations with a specific focus on reducing Race related inequalities.
I am currently working on increasing access to the Covid vaccine by using a data led approach to focus on specific communities with lower uptake. We recognise that there is some vaccine fatigue amongst communities so we are hosting a series of events whereby we are able to use local expert clinicians from the specified community to support these events by providing information relevant to the community on a range of health related topics as well as the vaccine. 

Contact: l.ghulam@nhs.net

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?

• Culture, communications and/or stakeholder engagement

What skills/knowledge would you like to increase/gain through the Core20PLUS5 Ambassadors programme?

• Networking
• Cultural competence
• Knowledge and understanding of health inequalities

Contact: lucie.oakey@southernhealth.nhs.uk

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?

• Mental health
• Mental health (Children and Young People)
• Digital inclusion
• Older adults
• Children and Young People
• Adults 
• Culture, communications and/or stakeholder engagement
• Gender (Male and female health)
• Deprivation and/or coastal/rural communities
• Leadership capability and education
• Anchors and social value
• Health literacy
• Inclusion health (Homelessness, coastal, rural, etc)
• Cancer

What skills/knowledge would you like to increase/gain through the Core20PLUS5 Ambassadors programme?

• Health promotion and education
• Knowledge and understanding of health inequalities
• Leadership

Projects / initiatives / work programmes relating to prevention and health inequalities which you are currently working on: 

As a social prescriber we would like to target patients that would benefit from a targeted approach on several health themes and ages.  This would target Mental Health patients initially.  Patients are reluctant to engage and discuss and not aware of the support available.  We would create a project around this and hope to have reached an achievable number of patients.

Contact: marie.adams8@nhs.net

What inspired you to apply to be a Core20PLUS5 Ambassador? 
As a general practitioner and member of Hampshire Autism Partnership Board, one of my main interests is that there is a premature mortality gap of 15-20 years for people with severe mental illness, learning disability and autism. Population groups for autism need to be identified locally in a consistent manner so that the reasons for these inequalities are recognised and properly understood. 

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?
Learning Disability and Autism.
As autism significantly overlaps with Severe Mental Illness, it will be beneficial to analyse autism prevalence within the five ‘Plus5’ priorities. 80% of autistic people experience mental health issues, mainly anxiety and depression, at some time during their life, some meeting the criteria for Severe Mental Illness. 
Autism is explicitly mentioned in the Children and Young People’s epilepsy inequality, and it is recognised that the prevalence of epilepsy in autism is well above the prevalence in a matched neurotypical population. 

Projects / initiatives / work programmes relating to prevention and health inequalities which you are currently working on: 
Hampshire Autism Partnership Board (HAPB):  

• Involvement in the development of Hampshire Autism Strategy, member of Health Inequalities Task & Finish Group (TFG) 
• Discussion and analysis of how the Core20PLUS5 program should be linked with the role of the HAPB to reduce health inequalities 
• Providing medical clinical insight around medical issues and their significance regarding health inequalities 
• Personalisation Expert Panel (PEP), Hampshire County Council,  
• Contributing to discussions about insights into health inequalities in the context of Hampshire’s Adult Health and Care Department  
• Hampshire Carers Partnership Associate Member

Contact: michael.white2@nhs.net

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?

• Inclusion health (Homelessness, coastal, rural, etc)

What skills/knowledge would you like to increase/gain through the Core20PLUS5 Ambassadors programme?

• Networking
• Cultural competence
• Leadership

Projects / initiatives / work programmes relating to prevention and health inequalities which you are currently working on: 

I have just completed a health needs assessment focusing on inclusion health groups in Portsmouth through which I have identified various recommendations for improving support. I am keen to network with others, better understand the system and develop my understanding of inclusion health groups and health inequalities to be able to partner with other organisations and take recommendations forward to help improve outcomes for inclusion health groups. 

Contact: Monisha.Dosanjh@hhft.nhs.uk

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?

• Mental health
• Gender (Male health)
• Ethnic minority communities

What skills/knowledge would you like to increase/gain through the Core20PLUS5 Ambassadors programme?

• Cultural competence
• Knowledge and understanding of health inequalities
• Networking

Projects / initiatives / work programmes relating to prevention and health inequalities which you are currently working on: 

Evidence of inequalities in mental healthcare are established in men from minority ethnic communities.
This project will work with local South Asian Communities, (12% of the local population), to co-design activities which improve outcomes in mental health and develop interventions which aim to support individuals and communities. 
Alignment with CORE20PLUS5:
CORE20: Community is within 20% most deprived IMD
PLUS: South Asian Men / People living with Serious Mental Health
5: Mental Health / Hypertension Case Finding / Cancer Screening 
Within 12 months it is expected that co-designed interventions will improve access and increase patient confidence.

Contact: Naomi.caldwell@solent.nhs.uk

What inspired you to apply to be a Core20PLUS5 Ambassador?
I would like to really improve patients lives as part of the Core20PLUS5 agenda and help sustain changes which give all patients equitable access to healthcare no matter who they are or where they live. I also think it's important that all patients have choice, and their voice is incorporated into clinical decision making.

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5? 
I currently work in primary care and I support Primary Care Networks and help reduce health inequalities particularly with regarding to early cancer diagnosis and CVD. 

Projects / initiatives / work programmes relating to prevention and health inequalities which you are currently working on: 
Nepalese Community event in Eastleigh focusing on CVD and diabetes prevention. 

Contact: natalie.gall2@nhs.net

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?

• Mental health
• Ethnic minority communities
• Disability, learning disability and Autism

What skills/knowledge would you like to increase/gain through the Core20PLUS5 Ambassadors programme?

• Health promotion and education
• Networking
• Knowledge and understanding of health inequalities 

Contact: nikhyta.patel@scas.nhs.uk

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?

• Mental health

What skills/knowledge would you like to increase/gain through the Core20PLUS5 Ambassadors programme?

• Health promotion and education
• Knowledge and understanding of health inequalities
• Networking

Projects / initiatives / work programmes relating to prevention and health inequalities which you are currently working on: 

I am unsure at present, but am interested in doing a project related to reducing health inequalities between those with and without an intellectual disability.

Contact: rachelstores@doctors.org.uk

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?

• Cancer
• Digital inclusion
• Making Every Contact Count (MECC)
• Health literacy
• Quality improvement
• Deprivation and/or coastal/rural communities
• Culture, communications and/or stakeholder engagement
• Research and/or innovation
• Adults

What skills/knowledge would you like to increase/gain through the Core20PLUS5 Ambassadors programme?

• Health promotion and education
• Knowledge and understanding of health inequalities

Projects / initiatives / work programmes relating to prevention and health inequalities which you are currently working on: 

When patients complete cancer treatment, they often struggle mentally and physically to return to their pre-cancer life. Our Project assists with patient self-management, remote monitoring, and re-entry routes. A program is run for patients living with and beyond cancer who have either finished treatment or are on active monitoring. The aim is to improve communication and coordination of care between Primary and Secondary care services, providing patients with a more streamlined and patient-centred approach to their care.

A nurse-led end-of-treatment clinic is initiated, followed by regular post-treatment rehabilitation workshops. Patient information packs are provided, detailing community resources and expectations from their General Practitioner. Additionally, a working relationship between primary and secondary care is developed by giving patients contact information for primary care moving forward. 

Expected results:
- patient empowerment: to take an active role in their health and wellbeing.
- improved communication with primary and secondary care teams.
- Increased confidence within primary care teams to support patients throughout the cancer pathway.

Contact: samantha.cowpe@porthosp.nhs.uk

What inspired you to apply to be a Core20PLUS5 Ambassador? 
The areas I lead within Primary Care quality is children's vaccinations uptake, influenza uptake looking at the at risk groups, improving uptake.  

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?
I am a LeDeR reviewer so the recommendations following a review are communicated to Primary Care and any good learning, reasonable adjustments annual health checks, this also include SMI health checks.  Review any learning from significant events that include delays in cancer 2 weeks and following the new pathway 62 referral to treatment. 

Projects / initiatives / work programmes relating to prevention and health inequalities which you are currently working on:
I am supporting a JSNA with LA colleagues looking at improving MMR uptake, produced a workforce questionnaire looking for best practice to share learning once the key recommendation are known.  As a LeDeR reviewer I will support the inequalities work making sure that reasonable adjustments are provided which include access to health care.  I undertake mini CQC assessments, looking at processes to check for quality, inequalities, making sure that practices understand their patients and can provide literature in the known languages, supporting practices engage a PPG to tackle inequalities and improve access.  

Contact: sarahrochford@nhs.net

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?

• Maternity
• Cancer
• Cardiovascular Disease (CVD)
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
• Smoking cessation
• Digital inclusion
• Inclusion health (Homelessness, coastal, rural, etc)
• Health literacy
• Asthma (Children and Young People)
• Diabetes (Children and Young People)
• Quality improvement
• Deprivation and/or coastal/rural communities
• Race equality
• Gender (Male and female health)
• Ethnic minority communities
• Research and/or innovation
• Adults
• Children and Young People
• Disability, learning disability and Autism
• Culture, communications and/or stakeholder engagement
• Making Every Contact Count (MECC)

What skills/knowledge would you like to increase/gain through the Core20PLUS5 Ambassadors programme?

• Knowledge and understanding of health inequalities
• Leadership
• Health promotion and education

Projects / initiatives / work programmes relating to prevention and health inequalities which you are currently working on:

Recruit and train Blood Pressure Community Champions from ethnic and marginalised communities to empower groups and improve hypertension case finding to fit in with CVD work in Core20PLUS5. Target ethnic and marginalised communities in Portsmouth. 

Identifying people without a recent BP check, to increase awareness of BP, ensure people understand their BP numbers. To signpost people with raised BP to relevant health professionals and other local services supporting wellbeing in the community. 

Recruitment to training 2 months, delivering project 6 - 8 months, collating data. evidence report 2 months. Complete project 12 months.

Contact: shipa.ahmedkhan@porthosp.nhs.uk    

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?

• Maternity
• Mental health
• Making Every Contact Count (MECC)
• Inclusion health (Homelessness, coastal, rural, etc)
• Disability, learning disability and Autism
• Adults
• Older adults

What skills/knowledge would you like to increase/gain through the Core20PLUS5 Ambassadors programme?

• Health promotion and education
• Networking
• Leadership

Projects / initiatives / work programmes relating to prevention and health inequalities which you are currently working on: 

We lead a Hospital Vaccination Centre and offer MECC, we lead a number of health and inequalities clinics at the Centre and in partnership with out three PCNs in none locations on the Isle of Wight.

Contact: sue.lightfoot@nhs.net

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?

• Maternity
• Cancer
• Cardiovascular Disease (CVD)
• Quality improvement
• Research and/or innovation
• Adults

What skills/knowledge would you like to increase/gain through the Core20PLUS5 Ambassadors programme?

• Health promotion and education
• Knowledge and understanding of health inequalities
• Leadership

What inspired you to apply to be a Core20PLUS5 Ambassador? 
Although, I have a professional interest in Learning Disabilities and Autism, my personal interest is more generic of health inequalities. 
I aspire to increase awareness of LD/Autism and health inequalities as a whole. In the last 12 months, I have been predominantly working with our Primary Care colleagues to look at the delivery of Learning Disability Annual Health Checks and addressing health inequalities. I am looking to have a minimum set of standards that become common knowledge in a healthcare setting so that health inequalities become more of a day-to-day consideration within other services, rather than an afterthought. 

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?
My particular area of professional interest would be supporting our local population of both adults and children with a learning disability and/or autism to live longer and more meaningful lives. Statistically, this cohort of people have a life expectancy of 20% less on average than those without a learning disability and/or autism. I have an invested interest in addressing the health inequalities that lead to this gap, such as increasing accessibility to services and enabling people to remain well to thereby live their best lives.  

Projects / initiatives / work programmes relating to prevention and health inequalities which you are currently working on: 

• Numerous Learning Disability and Autism awareness drives
• Partaking in localised Core20PLUS working groups and initial scoping exercises with peers within Core20PLUS remit to identify potential crossover and collaborative goals. 
• Increasing uptake of LD Annual Health Checks and Quality assurance review, design and auditing 
• A GP survey designed to understand challenges on the ground in relation to the provision of Annual Health Checks and to create a GL LD Directory for more direct and improved communication. 
• Review of patient documentation, increasing easy read provisions and ensuring that Annual Health Check information is available in top 21 most spoken languages via an easy read format. 
• Explore key health themes and ways of supporting people to remain well (e.g cancer screening, vaccination drives etc) 
• Implementation of an ICB-wide LD Friendly GP Practice accreditation programme 
• Primary Care Sensory and Communication Box initiative in GP Practices 
• Creation of bespoke communication tools for Primary care alongside reasonable adjustment and MCA prompts. 
• Exploring Advocacy provisions for our LD/A population 
• Review services in line with national initiatives/drives 
• Align LeDeR learning into workstream developments  
• Housing and placement schemes 

Contact: t.sedgemore@nhs.net 

What are your areas of interest / specialism within Core20PLUS5?
I decided to apply for the CORE20 Ambassador programme as I was the newly appointment Health Inequalities Lead for HIOW Medicines Optimisation Team.   I wanted the opportunity to network with colleagues with a passion to tackling and raising awareness of Health Inequalities.  I am an independent prescriber with a special interest in Cardiovascular disease.

What skills/knowledge would you like to increase/gain through the Core20PLUS5 Ambassadors programme?
I hope that the programme will enable me to develop my knowledge and be the 'expert' for my team in understanding the health Inequalities that exist within HIOW.  I want to understand the data and intelligence so I can better understand the current health and care needs to identify opportunities for improvement. 

Contact: v.sessions@nhs.net