Grantham Joint Aches and Pains Hub
A targeted approach to solving joint pain and getting people active again
In January 2024, over 150 people attended Grantham Joint Aches and Pains Hub as part of a first-of-its-kind event for Lincolnshire.
Using linked data to focus invitations to adults with joint pain, this ‘pop-up’ event helped connect people with different health and community services in the area, thereby providing more holistic, personalised support while also fostering stronger links between professionals.
Overview
Led by the K2 Healthcare Sleaford Primary Care Network (PCN) and the It's All About People Personalisation Programme team, the project brought together statutory, third sector and independent providers at a local leisure centre in Grantham to offer a ‘one-stop-shop’ for people experiencing joint pain.
The event allowed people to speak to various health and care professionals in an informal, non-clinical environment. Given the increasing pressures on primary care and local hospital services, this was intended to improve people’s access to professional advice and support.
Approach
The K2 and It's All About People teams used linked data available through Lincolnshire’s Population Health Management Pathfinder Analytics data toolset to identify people that may benefit the most from this event, and combined insights from the data toolset with information from a local coproduction group to shape the event itself. This included which professionals should be represented and how best to market the event to the public.
Although the event was open to anyone locally, three specific groups emerged from the data:
- Those identified by the PCN as needing a Health Check were invited to have their blood pressure and weight taken, along with other checks.
- Those currently awaiting surgery and on a prehabilitation programme were invited for a session with an occupational therapist to prepare for surgery.
- Those referred for a hospital outpatient physio appointment were invited for an initial consultation with a physiotherapist, including a care planning conversation.
Invitations were sent to relevant individuals from their GP or hospital to encourage them to book appointments on the day, whilst a stakeholder working group was engaged to design and deliver the event.
Vicky Thomson, CEO, Every-One (a partner organisation involved in the project):
"Having easy access to the linked datasets for Grantham and Rural was essential for helping us work out who to target within the community. Our analysis of the data went hand-in-hand with the conversations we had with people with lived experience through our co-production workshops. Together these helped us paint a clear picture of what was going on in people’s lives and what they needed to help them.”
Impact generated
More efficient for professionals, more convenient for the public
The four-hour event allowed health and care professionals to conduct multiple consultations with people who would otherwise have faced lengthy delays if seen in a more ‘traditional’ clinical setting.
With other partners on hand - including weight management services, the local pain management group (Flippin’ Pain), and other health and wellbeing providers — people could be easily and quickly directed to other sources of support.
Improved knowledge and stronger relationships between practitioners
The event also brought together different people involved in musculoskeletal care who might not ordinarily have the opportunity to connect.
Qualitative feedback from stakeholders suggests that this has helped to break down professional silos, improving their working knowledge of the range of support available and encouraging further interagency working at a 2neighbourhood level.
A replicable model that can be applied to other areas of care
Conceived as ‘healthcare done differently’, the project was carefully documented to extract the key lessons and develop a ‘model’ approach to creating similar ‘pop-up’ healthcare events in the community.
Other MSK-oriented events have already been run in other parts of Lincolnshire, and it is hoped that the same model could also be adapted to support additional areas of care in future.
Fran Keane, Clinical specialist physiotherapist who ran sessions at the event:
"My first impression of working in this way made me gasp. We’d never worked like this before and didn’t know what buy-in we would get.
"We were concerned about what it looked like to the public to take staff out of their primary role for the day. What about notes and governance?! But we did it!
"The networking, having better links with partners, effectively signposting our patients … these are all things that continue beyond the event. There were some that I didn’t realise even existed!”
