THE pioneering Living Well Hub in Warrington town centre is celebrating a successful first six months after welcoming its 5,000th visitor through the doors.
It is a major milestone for the multi-million-pound health and wellbeing facility, believed to be the first of its kind in the country.
The welcoming and accessible Town Deal-funded building is now home to more than 30 healthcare providers, voluntary and charitable organisations and wellbeing services, led by a joint partnership between Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WHH), Warrington Borough Council, Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust.
Designed to connect residents to the best possible advice, support and guidance to meet their individual health and wellbeing needs – with the ultimate aim of preventing ill health, reducing health inequalities and supporting town centre regeneration – there’s a packed monthly timetable in place, with more developments on the way.
One service recently introduced at the hub has been blood testing (phlebotomy), which has been so well received that the team are now exploring the possibility of expanding the provision to create additional capacity for more than 250 tests during the week.
New additions to the timetable in recent months have also included Directions for Men mental health support, Bumps to Babies sessions for new parents, an infant feeding group, perinatal support group, diabetes clinic, carers’ craft session, and employment support.
General manager Emma Whaley is proud of what has been achieved so far saying: “It has been an incredibly rewarding first six months for the team here,” she said. “As the project is unique and unlike any other model that we’re aware of elsewhere, we weren’t sure what would and wouldn’t work at first. So it has been a case of learning and testing out new things along the way, as all the different services have started to work together and get to know each other more.
“We have worked hard to make the building as warm and welcoming as possible for those who visit us, and watching it come to life, especially during our children and families focus days, has been wonderful. Seeing the reactions on people’s faces when they access the support they need is very humbling and we know it is making a real difference.
“Having the opportunity to connect with lots of amazing people from a range of services means that if you are a Warrington resident and require support with your health and wellbeing needs, there will be someone at the hub who will be able to advise you.”
Visitors to the Living Well Hub are able to access a range of services in one place. For example, someone attending a standard maternity appointment could also see a health visitor if they had another child who was of an age that needed that support. They could then spend time with their children in the hub’s play and stay sessions, giving them the opportunity to meet other parents and youngsters.
As well as focusing on tackling health inequalities, Warrington also has a significant ageing population, with the number of people over the age of 65 in the town expected to double over the next 20 years.
Lucy Gardner, Chief Strategy and Partnerships Officer at Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals, said: “It’s really important that we provide easy access to the services people in this area of town need to help improve their health outcomes, including helping them to stay healthy as they start to move into older age.
“What is brilliant about the number of people who have come through the doors so far is the fact that more than 50 per cent have just dropped in and not had an appointment, and that’s something that was really missing from the town before.
“We also know that at least 25 per cent of people who visit the hub access a second service which wasn’t the one they had been originally intending to access, so that has been really encouraging to know that people are getting the correct help, even when they might not have known it was available to them prior to coming here.”
The Living Well Hub would not have been possible without a team effort from partner organisations across the town.
Bridgewater Community Healthcare, one of its four main partners, runs several community services from the building including advice and support around children’s oral health and infant feeding.
Lynne Carter, Acting Chief Executive, said: “We’re really proud of what we’ve been able to achieve as part of this partnership. It’s incredibly important to us that we work together with our partners to help prevent ill health in our communities.
“The Living Well Hub is such a successful example of this – we know that many of our patients and their families may need support from a number of different services. Because we’re able to collaborate with so many other organisations on site, our patients are able to quickly access the healthcare they need, when and where they need it. It’s perfect joint working, with our patients at the heart of what we do.”
The Living Well Hub is part of the borough-wide Living Well programme, which aims to connect people, communities and services to enable residents to live healthy, fulfilling lives and take greater control over their own health, wellbeing and resilience.
Cllr Maureen McLaughlin, cabinet member for health, wellbeing and social care at Warrington Borough Council, said: “The Living Well Hub has enabled us to adopt a bold, new approach in Warrington and I am convinced other places should look at how this partnership model is helping to support people’s general health and wellbeing. The range of support and advice on offer is fantastic, and having all of this support wrapped up in one place puts our residents at the heart of the services being delivered.
“The hub being based where it is makes it more accessible for residents and communities who live in our inner wards. We know these residents may be faced with health inequalities compared to other parts of the borough, so having the Living Well Hub effectively on their doorstep is a game-changer.
“Five thousand visits is incredibly encouraging, but we’re not stopping there. We know there are more people that would benefit from advice and support at the hub. We will keep working together to make sure even more people benefit from what the hub has to offer.”
For more information about the Living Well Hub go to https://www.warrington.gov.uk/living-well-hub
