Our local population and health inequalities
Ealing in total is significantly above average in London and England for the level of diversity of ethnic origin in the local community. This is even more pronounced in some of the main catchment areas of Ealing Hospital, particularly Southall and Greenford. A high proportion of these are of South Asian Heritage, whilst there are also significant communities of Irish, Polish and Somali origin. Southall Green, Southall Broadway and Dormers Wells have the highest percentage of residents from different ethnic backgrounds in Ealing.
As examples of major health issues, Ealing Borough in total suffers from:
- · Very high levels of diabetes compared with the rest of England
- · Below London average life expectancy
- · Significantly lower levels of physical activity than the average for London and England
- · The highest level of alcoholism admissions in England
These health problems are significantly higher in the Southall and Greenford areas than other parts of Ealing. In Ealing as a whole, 12.2% of households contain someonewith a long-term health problem or disability, in parts of Southall this rises to 14.2%.
The high incidence of diabetes particularly reflects a high level of heart health problems in the local community. The local population in these key areas have major problems accessing health services due to language and digital barriers.
A large- scale research project has identified a genetic issue amongst South Asian populations which makes them more prone to heart disease than people of other origins.
Sources: NWLUH Trust Strategy, 2023. Ealing Council Public Health Strategy, 2023. The South Asia Biobank Study.
Heartlink joins Ealing campaign to stop smoking and vaping
From September 2024, Heartlink is a partner in Ealing Council's borough wide community campaign to encourage adults and young people to stop smoking and vaping.
Please click the link HERE if you want to see full details of the service
Smoking has been shown to contribute to a range of major health problems, including heart disease, cancer, respiratory diseases, and strokes. Vaping, a popular alternative to smoking, is a growing habit for many young people. It is often marketed as a safer option, however, vaping is not without risks. Research indicates that vaping can lead to various health issues, especially with long-term use. The council will be taking action against those who supply vapes and tobacco illegally.
Heartlink will link with Ealing’s new Smokefree Service which will help people who want to stop. As part of our work to raise awareness about heart health across the community, we will be talking to people about the risks of smoking and vaping and encouraging them to stop. We will visit community groups, places of worship, health and exercise groups, organisations and workplaces, run stalls in public and health locations and at major public events.
Anyone wanting to help us in this campaign will receive training on the effects of smoking and vaping on health. By volunteering, you'll join a dedicated team committed to promoting healthier lifestyles and reducing the impact of smoking and vaping-related health issues. Your efforts can help save lives and inspire positive change. Join us in this vital mission to protect and improve public health.
Our campaign so far
We developed our local campaign on the basis of the facts outlined above about the high level of local health problems, our knowledge that heart disease is the number one killer in the UK and that the following diseases disproportionately affect ethnic communities:
- Diabetes
- Chronic Kidney Disease
- Stroke
- High Blood Pressure
- Vascular Disease
- Coronary Heart Disease
- Cancer
- Liver disease
- COPD
- Tuberculosis
We also know that early detection of heart disease can save lives, and that:
- Community education
- Early detection
- Medical intervention
- Medication
- Management and Monitoring
………will prevent premature deaths.
We developed our campaign with the advice, support and involvement of our Trustees in Cardiology at Ealing Hospital and based on the commitment and hard work of a team of Heartlink volunteers.
We have campaigned widely out in the community, where we can reach large numbers, to raise awareness and to encourage people to adopt a healthy lifestyle. We have used a large range of British Heart Foundation material and have developed our website to offer a range of easy to access advice and support. All the time we have continued our work in and around Ealing Hospital to support heart patients, their families and carers.
Our achievements
We have significantly broadened our programme by:
- Heartlink Trustees addressing the congregation at many local Gurdwaras and Mandirs, supported by members running literature stalls.
- Holding stalls with large-scale publicity material at:
· Major local religious and other festivals
· Ealing Broadway centre
· GP practice and health open days
· Specific community groups aimed at the older generation.
· Community ‘Pop-in’ and Friendship’ clubs
- Creating our new website with extensive health advice, patient stories, all our activities and news, and generating thousands of ‘hits’ in the community.
- Establishing our own regular well-attended Community Hub, close to both Southall & Greenford, targeting older heart patients and providing advice, gentle exercise, social activities & combatting loneliness.
- Providing basic health checks, by health care volunteers, to our Hub attendees who are of the older generation, and blue-collar workers (e.g. lorry drivers) of a large commercial transportation company a large group of local lorry drivers.
- Establishing very good working links with many key local community organisations.
- Joining the North London NHS Winter Covid and Flu Vaccination Campaign distributing leaflets in English and Punjabi and talking particularly to older people and heart patients to convince them to get vaccinated.
- Joining the local Southall Social Prescribing Initiative, allowing GPs to refer people to us for support.
- Continuing to operate our ‘heart buddy’ scheme which links recently diagnosed patients with experienced members who can advise them through the upset and distress they suffer.
- Continuing to run our weekly walkers group to encourage healthy activity and social contact for heart patients and others
.. and setting up an IT familiarisation and Training Programme, developed jointly with Age UK, to help combat digital exclusion amongst local communities and the elderly. It uses smart devices and aims to facilitate access to NHS digital services.
Our Public Health Champions Project
In the next project phase, we are promoting health in the community by working with other local community groups to mobilise volunteer health advocates .
We believe this is a highly effective way of recruiting and involving people and then raising awareness of key health issues. Rather than trying to do this simply by stalls and leaflets, it is encouraging people to become active volunteers through involvement in a programme of training and raising their knowledge and understanding.
By acting as advocates in the community at places of worship, community groups and organisations, schools and colleges, exercise and sports clubs, health centres etc, the volunteers will enormously extend the coverage and effectiveness of the programme.
We are developing this project in liaison with community partners who, like ourselves, have large memberships and an extensive reach in the community. We would welcome the opportunity to work with the key public sector partners such as the Trust, Ealing Council and the local ICB.
We are seeking support to fund the initiative that includes providing high quality training for an initial group of volunteers. These volunteers, with support and assistance, would replicate and cascade the training to reach the target of 100 volunteers. This training will relate to:
- · Heart health, diabetes, strokes, COPD, other co-morbidities, cancer etc.
- · Raising awareness of the risks associated with smoking, vaping, excessive alcohol, poor diet and lack of exercise.
- · Promoting a healthy lifestyle.
We aim to give our advocates training accreditation and a recognisable public profile. They will need suitable promotional material and significant organisational support to ensure they reach key sections of the community and can sustain their work to maximise what they achieve in the community.
We have liaised with a section of Ealing Council on a proposal to work with them on combatting smoking and vaping. If this is successful it will form part of this phase of the campaign.
November 2023.
Click HERE to visit our VOLUNTEERING PAGE for full details of our new arrangements for volunteering with Heartlink and the TRAINING we are providing for people who want to help us in our COMMUNITY HEALTH CAMPAIGN and are interested in becoming public health champions.
Volunteers from Heartlink and Mael Gael attending a recenttraining course given by Michaela Nuttall