Here for Health Centre set to open

An innovative Centre opened its doors to provide health improvement advice for patients, visitors, and staff on 27 August 2014 at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. The Here for Health Centre is an exciting opportunity for us to help the people of Oxfordshire address unhealthy lifestyles, improve their health and reduce their chronic disease risk.

The Centre is a very innovative and novel service for a hospital to provide. It forms part of the Trust's commitment, through its joint public health strategy with Oxfordshire County Council, to improve health and prevent disease in patients, visitors and staff. As the Centre is a new model for a hospital setting, it will initially be open for a year. This trial period has been funded by Oxford Radcliffe Charitable Funds and the NHS England Thames Valley Area Team.

During this year, we will closely monitor the service we are providing to ensure that we are meeting the needs of patients and staff, and to find ways to improve the service.

The Here for Health Centre is located in Blue Outpatients on Level 2 at the John Radcliffe Hospital and will be staffed by Aine Lyng (Health Promotion Specialist) and Emma Hagues (Health Promotion Practitioner). The Centre will operate during standard office hours Monday to Friday and its purpose is to provide brief healthy lifestyle advice to patients, visitors and staff as well as information on how to access services and organisations within the community to support behaviour change and improve an individual's health.

The Here for Health Centre will be complementing and supporting the ongoing work of the Trust's Centre for Occupational Health and Wellbeing to enhance staff wellbeing. 

A range of topics will be covered by the Here for Health Centre such as healthy eating, physical activity, alcohol, smoking and weight management. It will be accessible to individuals on a drop-in basis. Clinicians will also be able to advise their patients to drop-in if they feel they could benefit from healthy lifestyle advice and information. The Centre has worked with staff across OUH, Oxfordshire County Council, and Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust to provide resources and ensure a consistent approach. 

Andrew Stevens, Director of Information and Planning at OUH, said: "Every contact with Oxford University Hospitals is an opportunity to promote health. Our ambition is that our staff feel able to promote healthier behaviours to their patients, visitors, and colleagues, and that our hospital sites encourage healthier choices."

Aine Lyng, Health Promotion Specialist at the Centre, added: "The Here for Health Centre is passionate about supporting an individual to live a healthy happy lifestyle. Our service is an exciting opportunity for you to access information and support to aid healthy lifestyle choices. Everyone is welcome, so please do come and visit. We look forward to meeting you."

Councillor Hilary Hibbert-Biles, Oxfordshire County Council's Cabinet Member for Public Health, said: "I am sure that the Here for Health Centre at the John Radcliffe Hospital will prove to be a useful resource for those who want to find out more about how to improve their health and I would encourage people to visit it and take on board the advice that is on offer."

The Centre will provide brief health promotion advice and information to help individuals change their lifestyle behaviours. If an individual wishes, an assessment of their lifestyle behaviours and risk factors can be carried out to help identify priorities for them, and enable signposting or referral to appropriate and agreed support services.

For more information, please see Here for Health.

Pictured at the launch are Aine Lyng (Health Promotion Specialist) and Emma Hagues (Health Promotion Practitioner) with Dr Louise Marshall and Dr Adam Briggs from the OUH Public Health team