What is the Co-Creating Health initiative?

South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust, in partnership with Wandsworth Primary Care Trust, is one of seven NHS trusts in the UK to be chosen as a demonstration site for the Co-Creating Health initiative (CCHi). The initiative is being run by the Health Foundation ; the initiative has been running for three years and has now been extended into a second phase running until September 2012.

This initiative aims to enable service users to become equal partners with clinicians to manage their condition. It supports people to gain the tools to manage their difficulties more effectively and to gain the confidence to contribute more to decisions about their treatment. It also helps healthcare professionals to develop skills and attitudes so they can work effectively with service users to self-manage their condition.
The initiative is currently focusing on four long-term conditions nationally:

musculoskeletal pain
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
diabetes
depression

The Wandsworth Co-Creating Health initiative is focusing on depression. We are twinned with another site in Devon who are also focusing on depression.

There are three strands to the CCHi:

Over 17 million people in the UK are currently living with a long-term health condition. By 2030, this number is expected to double. This presents a huge challenge not only to society, but also to our current health system.

Many creative and committed healthcare professionals are already forming radically different relationships with their patients. Equally, many people with long-term conditions are already taking significant steps towards a more active role in their own care.

However, at present, neither group is systematically provided with the support, skills and tools that they need in order to do this.

We want to develop our services to improve outcomes for all by working collaboratively with professionals and service users.