HOUSING association Prima Group and Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust have joined forces to launch Healthy@Home.
 
The pioneering pilot project aims to improve health outcomes by better connecting housing conditions with medical and wellbeing support.
 
Prima Group has written to over 220 of its tenants in Wavertree and Picton in the east of the City inviting them to take part in the trial that will also help tackle health inequalities.  
 
The housing association has shared a list of its properties in these areas with Mersey Care and with tenant consent, NHS colleagues will review property information to identify those who may benefit from additional support. 
 
Tenants who choose to take part will meet jointly with a member of Mersey Care’s Integrated Care Team and their designated Prima Group neighbourhood housing officer. 
 
Together they will assess whether practical, bespoke improvements could be made to the tenant’s home to help boost their health, independence and safety. 
 
This could be a tenant with a respiratory illness whose symptoms would be improved by energy efficiency upgrades being made to their home to increase the ventilation.
 
Or small changes like installing grab handles to reduce the risk of frail tenants falling.
 
Prima Group Housing Manager, Lisa Caldwell, said:- “Living conditions play a major role in people’s health so it is vital that housing and health professionals work together. This pilot brings GPs, Integrated Care Teams and neighbourhood housing officers together to better understand tenants’ living situations and improve their health and wellbeing. This will help us provide early interventions allowing people to stay healthy at home so we really encourage the tenants we have invited to get in touch and take part in the pilot. With social housing tenants facing some of the biggest health inequalities in society, this pioneering project will improve their independence while reducing avoidable pressure on NHS services. Tenants can also rest assured that no personal or medical information will be shared with us.”
 
Wes Baker, Director of Strategic Analytics, Economics and Population Health Management at Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, said:- “Connecting housing data with health records is exactly the kind of joined up thinking the NHS needs more of. Understanding someone’s living conditions alongside their clinical picture allows earlier, more effective intervention. This pilot demonstrates what truly integrated data looks like in practice.”
 
The long-term aim of Healthy@Home is to develop a framework for ongoing collaboration between social housing associations and the NHS so it can be rolled out nationally.
 
The project is being part-funded by the Fusion21 Foundation, a registered charity which helps build brighter futures in the communities where procurement experts Fusion21 operate.  
 
The work is also supported by NHS Cheshire and Merseyside and local GPs from Picton Primary Care Network. All health conversations, assessments and referrals will continue to take place between tenants, GPs and the Integrated Care Team and not include Prima Group. 
 
Tenants do not have to take part in the pilot and those who do can change their mind at any time.