Empowering people and communities to look after themselves better
For the past six months, we've been supporting an exciting piece of work that's been helping people living in Folkestone & Gravesend to learn how to manage their own blood pressure.
We've just finished our Social Return on Investment analysis which allows us to see just how powerful this work has been.
What's been going on?
The British Heart Foundation and listening experts EK360, have been working together with many passionate community organisations and charities to reach people in Folkestone & Gravesend who wouldn't normally go to their GP.
They wanted to empower communities by giving them the confidence to take their own blood pressure readings and understand why it's so important to look after your blood pressure.
Why is that important?
NHS England statistics tell us that there has been a significant drop in the number of people getting their blood pressure checked since the Covid pandemic. Figures out today from the British Heart Foundation claim that this drop could lead to an EXTRA 11,190 heart attacks and 17,702 strokes over the next three years.
That's why a group of committed organisations have come together in Kent to test out a new idea which will enable more people to get their blood pressure checked.
Has it worked?
Yes! We've analysed their work and we can evidence its success.
The headline statistics are:
510 people have had their blood pressure checked
28 volunteers have been trained to act as Hypertension Heroes in Folkestone & Gravesend. They support people to get their blood pressure checked and help people to understand why it's important to have healthy blood pressure
A total of £155,253 worth of social value has been generated during the six month pilot
Every £1 invested has generated £3.11 worth of social value
On average, every single person who had their blood pressure read has benefited personally from £306 of social value
Downloads
We have created a short summary report which includes all the headlines, as well as a more detailed report which includes the full analysis for those of you who like the detail.
If you'd like to talk to us about our analysis, we'd love to hear from you!
