A public health programme tackling inequalities that started during the Covid crisis has delivered "stunning" results, according to a new report.

The Brent Health Matters project also uses a bus to visit places of work to encourage workers to get checked and to reach out-of-the-way places like housing estates.

It has 45 volunteer community champions and a network of 428 organisations working with Brent Council and the NHS.

Covid hit some communities harder than others, the council points out.

The programme was started in the wake of Brent’s highest age adjusted death rate in the UK during the first wave of the pandemic.

“Covid was a huge wake-up call,” the council’s cabinet member for community health Neil Nerva explained. “It exposed the true extent of health inequality and acted as a catalyst for a change of approach.

“People were dying disproportionately because of who they were.

“Their job, living arrangements and area they live in all contribute alongside their understanding of the system and communicating their needs.”

The scale of health inequality is said to be “far more pronounced than elsewhere”, especially with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and mental health issues which are deemed higher than the national average.

The programme has “flipped the script” and taken health and care into the community, rather than expecting people to find their way to get help, offering free NHS checks with health professionals.

It staged 119 health events last year alone, which attracted more than 4,000 people to community and leisure centres, factories, public libraries, stadiums, foodbanks, places of worship, market stalls and even barber shops and homeless shelters. , 

Results have been “nothing short of stunning”, according to the programme’s first annual report this week. One-in-four people who were seen during the 4,000 health checks needed to be referred onto a GP for further help, it revealed.

The programme has identified undiagnosed health conditions such as diabetes and hypertension, while signing people up to a GP if they are not registered. It also gives advice on when to use hospital A&E and what services are available at pharmacies.