A
collaborative project evaluating the success of the Making Every Contact Count
healthcare initiative across Bolton has secured almost £250,000 from the National
Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
Making Every
Contact Count – known as MECC – is a nationally supported preventative
healthcare approach, aiming to turn everyday conversations between
professionals and members of the public into opportunities to promote healthier
lifestyles – with a focus on smoking, physical activity, healthy eating,
alcohol, and mental health.
Since 2024,
Bolton NHS Foundation Trust and Bolton Council’s Public Health Team have been
rolling out MECC across acute and community services. Early results show
promising signs, with staff reporting greater confidence in supporting patients
to make positive health changes.
Now, the new
funding which has been awarded through NIHR’s Three Schools Prevention
Programme will allow researchers, the Bolton NHS Foundation Trust and Bolton
Council to work together with Greater Manchester community partners to analyse
how MECC training helps local authority, health and social-care staff reduce
entrenched health inequalities across Bolton, where 45% of residents live in
highly deprived areas.
The lead
academic partner in this practitioner-led study is Northumbria University –
part of Fuse, the Centre for Translational Research in Public Health,
working with experts from the University of Sheffield, the University of Oxford
and LiLaC,
via Lancaster University.
Together the universities
represent the NIHR 'Three Schools', which consists of the Schools for Primary
Care Research (SPCR), Public Health Research (SPHR) and Social Care Research (SSCR).
The partners
will work together to evaluate how well MECC works in practice, how it affects
staff and patients, and how it can be sustained and adapted across different
settings.
The project
builds on several years of research by Northumbria University’s Making Every
Contact Count research group, led by Dr Angela Rodrigues, Associate Professor in Psychology at Northumbria
University, in
collaboration with Professor Katie Haighton, Professor of Public Health &
Wellbeing at Northumbria University.
Dr Rodrigues,
academic lead on the project, and co-lead of the Behaviour Change Research
Cluster in Fuse, said: “This funding provides a valuable opportunity to work
alongside practitioners in Bolton at a pivotal point in their MECC journey. It
means we can rigorously evaluate what’s working - and for whom - while helping
shape future development.
“By learning
from local delivery in its early stages, we can inform future effectiveness
studies and support more targeted, impactful approaches to preventative
healthcare. Ultimately, this work contributes to improving the health of
communities who are often underserved, reducing risk of disease and premature
mortality.”
Running until
June 2027, the study will explore how confident and skilled staff feel using
MECC following training; the effectiveness of MECC in different health and care
settings; and the impact on patients’ health behaviours and experiences. The
research will also evaluate MECC’s contribution to more equitable access to
care and its long-term sustainability.
Using staff and
patient interviews, surveys, training observations and health economic
modelling, the research will provide an in-depth understanding of how MECC
supports real-world behaviour change. Findings will inform future strategy both
locally in Bolton and nationally across the NHS and public health systems.
Tyrone Roberts,
Chief Nursing Officer at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, said: "As healthcare
professionals we're in a privileged position to try and make a positive
difference in the lives of those we meet. Building trust and good connections
is at the heart of that so we can approach difficult topics, such as weight,
smoking or alcohol.
"Making
Every Contact Count has empowered our staff by equipping them with skills and
confidence to have new conversations with patients about self-care and signpost
them to the right help, which might even be outside of their everyday role.
"We're
proud of our MECC journey since launching in early 2024. We have seen staff
confidence levels increase when it comes to having those difficult
conversations with patients and through delivering this as one Bolton system we
have strengthened our connections with colleagues at Bolton Council."
Lynn Donkin,
Director of Public Health for Bolton Council, added: “We are pleased to be
working with NIHR academic colleagues to evaluate our partnership approach to
Making Every Contact Count in Bolton, so we can strengthen this approach and
work together to better support people in our local communities.”
Dr Christian
Morgner, Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield will lead on Equality,
Diversity & Inclusion aspects of the project and brings specialist insight
on social-care contexts, ensuring the evaluation reaches underserved
communities and that learning is transferable nationwide.
Dr Morgner
added: “The project offers an integrated model of a real-world laboratory. By
embedding robust EDI principles, we’ll generate evidence that works for every
neighbourhood.”
In addition to
the Bolton-focused MECC study, Northumbria academics are leading further
NIHR-funded research to map out a strategy for MECC training in the voluntary
sector, where its implementation is much less established than in NHS and local
authorities’ workforces.
Dr Beth Nichol’s NIHR Three Schools post-doctoral Fellowship will see
Portsmouth City Council, the University of Sheffield, the University of Oxford,
Lancaster University and Queen Mary University of London working in
collaboration with charities and community groups to develop a blueprint for
establishing the MECC approach in the voluntary sector. Supervision is provided
by a collaborative team, with Professor Katie Haighton and Dr Angela Rodrigues
at Northumbria University taking lead supervisory roles.
Northumbria is one of the top-rated
universities for health care programmes in the UK, and is dedicated to
reducing health and social inequalities, contributing to the regional and
national workforce and improving social, economic and health outcomes for the
most marginalised in society. Through its new Centre
for Health and Social Equity, known as CHASE, researchers
will be delivering world-leading health and social equity research and creating
innovative, evidence-based policies and data-driven solutions to bring
impactful change across the region, the UK and globally.
