Health and Europe Centre

In the 2001 Census, 40 million out of the 59 million people living in the UK rated their general health in the last year as 'good', a further 13 million rated it as 'fairly good', while 6 million people rated their health as 'not good'. Children (aged 0 to 15) had the highest rate of good general health at over 90 per cent, with an additional 8 per cent rating their general health as fairly good.

Over the last 25 years in the UK, improvements in health have resulted in more people living longer and an increasing proportion of deaths occurring in older ages. However, there remain substantial social and geographical variations in health status, with people who are disadvantaged in terms of their educational, employment and socio-economic background having higher rates of reported poor health and limitations in daily activities. On average, the population in England had better reported health than the other countries in the UK.

Trends in behaviour such as smoking and heavy drinking and increases in obesity and sexually transmitted diseases which are known risk factors for disease and poor outcomes are not improving, particularly among young people. These behaviours mixed with an increasingly elderly population make the health of the nation a challenge for its National Health Service (NHS).

Through tools such as research, studies, conferences and collaborative projects, the Health and Europe Centre aims to highlight relevant areas of expertise and learning of our European counterparts for the benefit of Kent and Medway NHS stakeholder staff and, ultimately, the local population. Several projects and conferences run by the Health and Europe Centre and funded by EU structural funds have examined areas such as public health service offerings, the prevalence of alcohol consumption and risky behaviouramongst young people, mental health and sexual health, all with the objective to collaborate with our European counterparts and improve the offerings of our NHS stakeholders.    

The Health and Europe Centre is continually looking out for EU funded calls for proposal and participation in projects on behalf of its NHS stakeholders. For information on our previous projects, please see below:

INTERREG IV A: Self Efficacy: 2010: An International Literature Review  

The project builds on previous research undertaken in Kent which looked at values and attitudes of young people who live in Kent which pre determine life choices.

The research further explores the rational that certain young people seem to be more susceptible to ‘risky’ behaviours like crime, drug abuse, anti-social behaviour, homelessness, poor health, benefit dependency and teenage pregnancy, which in turn has a relationship with low levels of self efficacy, defined as; ‘people’s belief about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives’.

Project objectives:

• Better understand some of the mechanisms around developing increased self-efficacy in our young people as part of their journey through life

• Explore interventions that are preventative rather than just designing interventions to treat the symptoms.

• Address the paucity of information on self-efficacy by conducting an International Literature Review on the subject.

• Inform strategists and policy makers in multi-agency setting to better commission services for young people.

Perceived self-efficacy is defined as people's beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives. Self efficacy beliefs determine how people feel, think, motivate themselves and behave. Such beliefs produce these diverse effects through four major processes. They include cognitive, motivational, affective and selection processes.

The work of Bandura gives one comprehensive explanation of why ‘self efficacy’ is so important and how self efficacy is developed through a young person’s lifecycle, or not, as the case may be.

If you would like to learn more about this project, please contact samantha.wood@kmpt.nhs.uk.

INTERREG IV A: 2010 Cross Border Association of Public Health and Social Medicine

This project focuses on establishing a cross border Association of Public Health and Social Medicine with colleagues in Kent and Medway and the Somme in France. The cross border Association will share and compare ways of addressing health threats/ challenges, perceptions, community practices and responses to specific health issues - especially in the prevention of long term illnesses and in areas of social exclusion - in children and adults and will also enhance the professional development of participants.

Project objectives:

• To establish a cross border Association of Public Health and Social Medicine:

• To improve our mutual understanding of approaches to health, healthcare and the prevention of ill health in the cross border region.

• To exchange ideas and experiences with a focus on health inequalities and social exclusion

• Develop a terms of reference for the Association

• Mapping areas of common practice

• Identifying areas of good practice

• Exploring innovations in practice using common public health data

• Developing shared practice in enhancing the public health roles of clinical and other professionals, for example, pharmacists

• Exploring and comparing policies.

If you would like to learn more about this exciting and rewarding project, please contact samantha.wood@kmpt.nhs.uk.

Grundtvig: 2010-11 Co-operation strand: Octavia Partnership

This project will explore the use of the arts in general and music, in particular, in wellbeing programmes for mental health service users across EU member states.  Shared learning will then be cascaded to teams within each partner’s own organisation as part of a non-formal learning programme.

Funding for this project has been secured and the project's first set of meetings will take place in Kent in October 2010 hosted by the UK partners, including the Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership trust and Sing for Your Life. The European partners involved with this project are:

• Spain- CEPER Almanjayar Cartuja
• Slovenia- Slovenian Association for Mental Health
• Also involved in the project is the Jvaskyla College, Finland, who will be providing their own funding outside of the Grundtvig strand.

If you would like to learn more about this project, please contact alice.chapman-hatchett@kmpt.nhs.uk.

To view more information on future, current and previous projects run by the Health and Europe Centre, please visit: http://www.healthandeuropecentre.nhs.uk/projects/

The Health and Europe Centre to become a Social Enterprise Company.

In 2006, the Management Board of the Health and Europe Centre took the view that the Centre has reached a stage in its development where it is appropriate for it to be linked more closely with its local NHS stakeholders and as such should be mainstreamed into the Health and Social Care economy by being physically located in an NHS organization.

The Board determined that in line with the new direction of travel for some service providers, the appropriate model for the Health and Europe Centre should be a Social Enterprise Company. The Health and Europe Centre is being hosted by the Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust at Kings Hill, West Malling.

Kent and Medway NHS Health and Europe Centre

Brighton & Hove PCT (Primary Care Trust)

Eastern and Coastal Kent PCT (Primary Care Trust)

West Kent PCT (Primary Care Trust)

Medway PCT (Primary Care Trust)

South Coast SHA (Strategic Health Authority)

Kent and Medway NHS Social Care and Partnership Trust