Launch of Population Health Report 2024

Following a recent webinar looking at our work over the past year to improve health outcomes and reduce health inequities, ELFT has published its 2024 Population Health Report, our second annual report.

Co-producing an annual report of activity sets out ELFT’s ongoing commitment to improving population health, alongside improvements to the quality of care and experiences of colleagues. It describes areas where we are uniquely placed to support population groups experiencing unacceptably poorer health outcomes when compared to the general population.

This includes through:

Our role as a healthcare provider of mental health, community health and primary care services covering a population of 955,000 in east London and 890,000 in Bedfordshire and Luton.
Partnership working with local government, the voluntary community sector and other healthcare establishments.
Positively contributing to social and economic development by being an Anchor Institution.

ELFT also works with University College London (UCL)’s Institute of Health Equity as the first ‘Marmot Trust’, where it embeds a set of principles outlined by Professor Sir Michael Marmot to reduce health inequalities in its strategic approach. This partnership is identified as an example of practice in the recently published independent investigation of the NHS in England.

These principles include:

Giving every child the best start in life
Enabling all children, young people and adults to maximise their capabilities and having control over their lives.
Creating fair employment and good work for all.
Ensuring a healthy standard of living for all.
Creating and developing healthy and sustainable places and communities.
Strengthening the role and impact of ill health prevention.
Tackling racism and its outcomes.
Tackling climate change and health equity in unison.

Commenting on the launch of the report and recent webinar, Director of Population Health, Laura Austin Croft, said: "It has been a privilege to once again work with service users, colleagues and partners to produce our second annual Population Health Report."

"We would not be able to support our communities without a collaborative approach, and I would like to thank everybody across east London, Bedfordshire and Luton for enabling this to happen."

Richard Fradgley, Executive Director of Integrated Care and Deputy Chief Executive, added: “Having a healthy population is built on various factors, ranging from safe accommodation and financial stability to a good job and supportive friends and family.

“At ELFT, we remain committed to addressing these factors, and the launch of this year’s Population Health Report shows our ongoing journey in achieving this.”

The annual population health report highlights examples of our work under six objectives. Below are the objectives and examples of work for three areas that were prioritised for 2024.

Over 2024 we’ve been prioritising activity that supports service users, carers and the communities we serve to develop skills and access meaningful activity and good quality work. Good jobs provide fair pay, safety, job security, opportunities to progress, flexibility and opportunities to help make decisions. A good job helps people stay well and recover. Supporting people to return and stay in employment is an important health and economic issue. There are rising levels of people not able to work owing to ill health and this is affecting more people living in poorer economic areas and in younger age groups.

Some people face particular barriers to employment, including carers, people with learning disabilities, and people with long term physical or mental health conditions. For example, only 6% of people in contact with secondary mental health services are in employment nationally and 4.7% of people with learning disabilities. This is despite approximately 80% of people with mental health conditions wanting to work. Health care services therefore play a key role in supporting people to stay in and return to work, including by sharing what support is available within their own services or in their local area.

Highlights from 2024 data include:

~1,000 people with long term mental health conditions received Individual Placement Support across Bedfordshire and Luton, City and Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets
helping 236 (24%) people enter employment and 85 education, training or volunteering.
224 people are currently employed at ELFT in roles that directly use lived experience expertise.
1,165 people accessed employment advice as part of Tower Hamlets Talking Therapies provision.
Two new employment advice services were launched this year for people using Talking Therapies services in Newham and Bedfordshire, with 1,067 people receiving support in the first ten months.
ELFT hosted two in person co-produced employment events for service users and carers, bringing together NHS, local authority and voluntary and community sector employment support services.

Healthier, wealthier families: Money advice in trusted community settings

Living in poverty makes it harder to live a healthy life. Healthier Wealthier Families is a pioneering programme funded by the ELFT Charity alongside other partners aimed at improving the financial wellbeing of children and their families. Raising a disabled child with additional needs has a huge impact on family finances. This initiative co-located welfare benefit advice in a specialist Neurodisability clinic for children and young people in Newham.

Results of the independent evaluation showed that on average families received £6,000 per year in unclaimed benefits as a result of the money advice. This is an average of £47 return for every £1 invested in advice.

Key ingredients for success were:

Co-location of money advice where families attend routine appointments
Every effort is made to help people feel more comfortable accessing money advice
Comprehensive, high-quality advice covering monetary and non-monetary benefits
Advice is accessible and responsive
Partners collaborate and are engaged

Understanding the needs of people with learning disabilities in East London

There is an unacceptable difference in health between people with long term health conditions, learning disabilities and the general population. Unfortunately, people with learning disabilities experience a number of preventable physical health challenges. These include obesity particularly in teenage years and young adulthood, which can increase risk of physical ill health including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. People with learning disabilities have lower access to cancer screening rates, resulting in cancer often diagnosed at a later stage.

To better understand the local picture in East London, ELFT and colleagues at NEL ICB commissioned work which brought together the latest population data, examples of good practice and the lived experiences of service users and carers. The published needs assessment for East London on people with learning disabilities will shape future service planning. You can read it here.

The main recommendations were to:

Increase equitable health access through reasonable adjustments and staff training and awareness.
Reduce inequities in health outcomes.
Transition pathways from children to adult services.
Strengthen access to income advice and employment.

ELFT Population Health Report 2024

First ELFT Annual Population Health Report

Anchor programme

Being a Marmot Trust