The community worker scheme from Brazil that could be part of the 10-Year Health Plan

The government is expected to publish its 10-year Health Plan in June and neighbourhood health will form a key part of the plan.

In an interview with the Telegraph last month health and social care secretary Wes Streeting highlighted a scheme from Brazil, that has been piloted in London, and involves community health and wellbeing workers providing outreach work. Could a model like this be part of neighbourhoods? There have been suggestions from several quarters that the scheme will be included in the 10-year plan.

Talking General Practice spoke to doctors involved with this model back in 2023, so we thought it would be a good opportunity to revisit that now.

So in this episode Emma speaks to Dr Matt Harris and Dr Connie Junghans-Minton about the initiative and how it is improving the use of health services among patients in London, which will hopefully result in better health outcomes.

Matt, who's now a clinical reader in public health medicine at Imperial College London, saw the scheme in action first hand when he worked as a GP in Brazil, and it was his idea to bring the model to this country. He explains how the scheme works and why he thought it could help people in the UK. Meanwhile, Connie discusses how her practice introduced the initiative for some of their most deprived patients, and the impact it has had.

Useful links

Telegraph story - NHS sent door-to-door to tackle sickness crisis

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