Health Integration Teams secure nearly £1.5 million in the first quarter of 2018/19

Bristol Health Integration Teams (HITs) have secured £1,438,000 of funding in the first quarter of 2018/19. This impressive contribution to the local health and care system is the result of efforts from a range of HITs, including:

• £345,000 for the Improving Care in Self-Harm (STITCH) HIT to extend their successful HOPE pilot project across city. The HOPE intervention is debt counselling alongside self-harm support
• £167,300 to the Bristol Immunisation Group (BIG) HIT to assess the practicality, acceptability and impact of self-consent procedures for schools-based HPV vaccination programme
• £258,900 to the Improving Perinatal Mental Health (IMPROVE) HIT for second wave funding for community perinatal psychiatry team
• £280,000 also to the IMPROVE HIT for a Wellcome Trust Humanities and Social Science Research fellowship investigating the experience of fathers whose partners have postnatal depression
• $129,850 (approximately £93,616) to the Integrated Pain Management (IPM) HIT to define internationally agreed core clinical outcome measures for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome clinical research studies
• £15,000 for the Active People: Promoting Healthy Life Expectancy (APPHLE) HIT to work with community education provider networks in the South West on education for primary care teams on older people and physical activity
• £2,550 also went to APPHLE HIT to signpost people aged 55 and over to local activities via three area-based ‘what’s on’ activity guides
• £8,000 for an APPHLE funding hat-trick, from Travel West, Bristol Aging Better and Bristol Ramblers to support Bristol Walk Fest 2018
• £15,000 goes to the Sexual Health Improvement Programme (SHIP) HIT for a sexual harassment survey
• £150,000 to the Psychosis HIT from the NIHR School for Primary Care Research, to improve assessment methods for risk of psychosis, using an algorithm based on CPRD data

Bristol Health Partners Chief Operating Officer Lisa King said:

“Our Health Integrations Teams are powerhouses in our local health and care sector, bringing funding to the region to focus on work that can really make a difference. I am very proud of what they’ve achieved in such a short space of time already this year: all this funding was secured in just three months. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the HITs for their continued hard work and dedication, which is really reaping rewards for our health and care system and local population.”