NCL Health and Wellbeing Bus project evaluation report

This report presents the findings from an evaluation of a project (the North Central London health and wellbeing bus, or NCLHWB) run by North Central London Integrated Care Board (NCL ICB) with partners in Camden Council and NCL care providers, which offered health and wellbeing checks, primarily to care workers at nursing and residential homes (hereafter referred to as care homes) in North London, via a bus service equipped with nurses and a GP. The NCLHWB operated on eight days between 25th January and 14th March 2024 and attended a total of 10 care homes, one general hospital and one mental health hospital in the NCL ICB footprint area, carrying out a total of 274 consultations with service users.

The evaluation, commissioned by NCL ICB found strong evidence of progress towards the project objectives and a detailed assessment of that is given against each objective, in the main body of the report. The NCLHWB project confirmed a large unmet demand for primary care amongst social care workers (and healthcare staff, although the project focused on the former). The project was successful in helping to meet these needs and in particular picking up many cases of hypertension, some of which were extremely serious and warranted immediate hospital or GP attention.

Mobile clinics such as NCLHWB bring primary care directly to care workers, reducing the time and transportation barriers that may prevent care workers from accessing primary care and also helping them to understand and navigate access to other healthcare services. Such clinics also provide care workers with physical measurement data regarding their weight or blood pressure and an opportunity to reflect on their diet, exercise, lifestyle and their own health and wellbeing generally which might tend to get pushed onto the back burner because of the many other demands on their time.
Recognising and addressing the primary care needs of care workers can help to ensure that this vital workforce remains healthy and able to continue their important work and reduce lost productivity through sick days and staff turnover.

The evaluation recommends expanding the NCLHWB service to more care and healthcare settings, supported by additional funded and trained bus teams, and assessing the feasibility of offering extra services such as blood tests or scans. Greater differentiation is needed to address the distinct needs of healthcare, care home, and domiciliary care staff. Improved direct communication pathways with other NHS services should be explored. Structural factors affecting care staff wellbeing must be acknowledged. NCLHWB staff require supportive working conditions, adequate staffing, protected time, and opportunities for reflection. Additional training in mental health, alcohol dependence, and domestic abuse is recommended. Maintaining staff diversity is essential.

Made available with the permission of the commissioner and authors.