Our Approach
“Life expectancy for men and women in Renfrewshire is slightly less than the Scottish average but there is a gap in life expectancy across neighbourhoods of at least 20 years for men and nearly 12 years for women reflecting poor health outcomes for those who live in areas of deprivation.”
(Source: A Community Health and Wellbeing Profile for Renfrewshire 2008)
What is community-led health?
The term 'community-led' means two things to us:
- our board of directors is made up of local people, thus the way we develop and the way we work is led by ordinary members of the community;
- our approach to the work we do is community-led, which means that we recognise the strengths and resources that people already have and that we seek to work alongside individuals and groups to support them to improve their health.
We do not assume therefore, that we are 'the experts' and that we simply need to tell people what to do. Our approach is about sharing knowledge and information and to be sensitive to the issues which people may be dealing with in their everyday life.
We recognise that life events can have a positive or negative impact on a person’s health. Our approach is to address the wider determinants of health to encourage inclusion, involvement, raising levels of self-esteem, confidence and achievement and promoting equality through reducing and removing barriers to good health.
What we do
- We address health inequalities using a community development approach;
- We adopt a social model of health to understand and respond to local health issues and needs;
- We target those with unmet health needs and who face barriers to good health and who are not currently engaged with services;
- We seek to complement and add to existing local strategies and services;
- We utilise the National Standards for Community Engagement to engage with people and communities towards improving their own health and that of their community. This model encourages community capacity building and active community member participation in health related issues;
- We work in a holistic way to promote health awareness within the community;
- We develop positive working partnerships with other agencies and groups;
- We aim to influence local, regional and national health strategies;
- We provide an accessible forum for community representation on health matters;
- We provide support, information and guidance;
- We encourage local people to take ownership of their own health;
- We help people to make positive lifestyle changes.
Policy Background
Our activities focus on the key themes agreed within:
- Renfrewshire’s Single Outcome agreement 2008-2011;
- Community Health Partnership Development Plan 2008-11;
- Renfrewshire Community Plan 2008-2017;
- Equally Well June 2008 (Scottish Government);
- Community Health and Wellbeing Profile for Renfrewshire (February 2008).
