Brent Health Matters review suggests rebranding to 'Brent People Matter'

Brent Health Matters could be rebranded as 'Brent People Matter' following an independent review

The Brent Health Matters (BHM) programme, established in 2020 to tackle health inequalities, is being considered for a rebranding to 'Brent People Matter' as part of a wider strategic review.

An independent peer review by the Local Government Association (LGA) highlighted BHM's success in building trust and reaching communities that statutory services have previously struggled to engage. The LGA peer review of BHM noted that the programme has built real trust in communities that statutory services had previously, and repeatedly, failed to reach. BHM has near-unique skills and reputation in communities and places of worship, with its outreach work described as phenomenal. Specific examples of success included improved identification and management of hypertension, particularly in the Black population, and reduced hospital attendances and admissions for childhood asthma through joint home visits with housing officers. The programme also demonstrated tangible health impact by narrowing the bowel cancer screening health inequalities gap from 13% to 9% and improving hypertension identification in Black communities through outreach to night-shift factory workers and places of worship. In total, BHM has held 208 outreach events attended by over 8,141 people, engaging with 428 community organisations.

However, the review also identified areas for improvement, including better integration with the wider health system, more robust data capture, and a stronger focus on upstream prevention. The LGA's report suggested that BHM was operating alongside the system, not within it, leading to potential duplication of services and a lack of integrated impact measurement. The ambition for upstream prevention, addressing wider determinants of health such as housing, employment, and poverty, was also noted as unfinished. The review identified that BHM's upstream prevention ambition is unfinished and that the programme has focused probably too much on health access and clinical interventions, with limited reach into housing, employment, poverty, education and place. The review suggests that BHM's community reach could connect systematically to housing improvement, damp and overcrowding interventions and homelessness prevention. It also highlights an untapped opportunity to align BHM with employment and skills programmes and that connections with education and early years could be further developed.

Key recommendations from the review suggest aligning BHM staff and resources within neighbourhoods, establishing relational working as a core skill, and strengthening connections with other community-based roles. The review also proposed co-developing event strategies with the voluntary, community, faith, and social enterprise (VCFSE) sector, reviewing clinical investment, and establishing clear cross-partnership governance.

The Health and Wellbeing Board has been asked to endorse these recommendations and the proposed action plan. The review noted that BHM has achieved something genuinely hard to replicate, building real trust in communities that statutory services had previously failed to reach. The programme's reach through outreach events and engagement with community organisations was described as near-unique in the London context.

The LGA peer review report does not particularly advocate changing the brand of Brent Health Matters, stating that the brand is a really strong brand. However, it suggests thinking of putting people at the center of what Brent Health Matters is doing rather than figures and other things. The report also notes that The shift from Brent Health Matters to Brent People Matter is not just a change of name: it is a change of logic. The primary risk identified is that structural change [to BHM] needs to be handled badly which could lead to the loss of its trusted brand and relationships. The report suggests that the change of logic implies resourcing the hyper-local spaces, relationships and community groups that are already holding people — and enabling them to do more, rather than building further statutory infrastructure around them.

In response to the review, a joint partnership leadership group has been established to implement the recommendations and oversee the transition to the next phase of BHM. This group includes senior leads from Brent Council, ICP, CNWL, CLCH (with VCFSE to also be added from now). It reports into the overall ICP and Health and Wellbeing Board governance via the Neighbourhoods and Health Inequalities Executive. The group reviewed the recommendations that emerged from the review and subsequent stakeholder workshop and is now progressing the immediate actions. The LGA peer review report and Brent's response outline a timeline for implementing recommendations. The transitions leadership group will meet monthly for the next six months of transition work and will recommend the appropriate ongoing oversight and governance. Key actions are scheduled as follows:

• Neighbourhoods: Align all BHM staff and resources into neighbourhoods and boost direct 1-to-1 support for residents/families, building on the approach developed in Harlesden and extending into other areas. This is scheduled from July-September for team changes, and September-March for extending neighbourhood working. This aligns with the broader Working in Neighbourhoods approach which aims to address the wider social determinants of health through integrated, place-based partnership working.
• Workforce development: Establish relational working as a core skill-set across community roles, developing career pathways, training, supervision, reflective support, and action learning as part of the workforce strategy and plan. This is planned for August-October for plan agreement and November-March for the first phase implementation.
• Team alignment: Ensure stronger connections with other community-based/focused roles such as social prescribers and other case-managing roles to maximize impact and avoid duplication. This is scheduled from July-September for team changes and September-March for extending neighbourhood working.
• Events: Target communities or populations where impact is greatest and co-develop a strategy for VCFSE to take on greater ownership for running events. This involves reviewing events in August and co-designing the VCFSE role from September-December.
• Clinical: Review the strategic priorities for BHM clinical resources in conjunction with ICB and primary care colleagues, with new strategic priorities to be agreed from July-September. The review also noted that Some BHM activity — blood pressure monitoring, health checks — duplicates what is already commissioned across primary care and community health services. The recommendation is to Re-consider the strategic focus on the existing BHM clinical investment and create more flexibility to do more preventative community focused work.
• Leadership: Establish clear governance through a senior partnership group to deliver recommendations and actions, reporting to the Neighbourhoods and Health Inequalities Executive group, ICP Board, and Health and Wellbeing Board. This group is already in place and meeting monthly.

The LGA's report suggested that the VCFSE sector is underused and that competitive tendering has fragmented the sector rather than building it. It recommended a shift towards a more people-centred approach, potentially through a rebranding to 'Brent People Matter', to ensure that the programme's focus remains on the individuals and communities it serves.

For more information on the Health and Wellbeing Board, see the Public reports pack and Agenda frontsheet.