Tackling Health Inequalities – Community Health Champions

Announcing five funded projects to tackle health inequalities

vast — Mon, 19 Oct 2026 09:35:16 +0000

Announcing five new projects to improve health outcomes

We are delighted to announce the recipients of our Tackling Health Inequalities grant funding. Five projects have been successful in securing grants of up to £5000.

VAST Infrastructure, Community & Partnerships Director Charlotte Bennett said: “It feels fitting to be able to support five projects in this, our fifth year of operation.”

“The quality of applications and the diversity of health inequalities they are looking to address made the selection process really difficult.”

“However, we are confident that all five will make a difference to people across Stoke-on-Trent who, for a variety of reasons, struggle to access the care and support they need.”

“Over the next six months, we will be telling the stories of how our Community Health Champion organisations are working hard to tackle the health inequalities they encounter.”

The successful projects are:

South Asian Health Initiative – The project is a 6-month community health programme in partnership with local mosques. The project will provide free weekly health and wellbeing sessions designed to improve health outcomes within South Asian communities, where rates of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity and poor access to preventative healthcare remain significantly higher than the national average.
Project 93 – When a trans person walks into their GP surgery, the difference between a correct referral and being misgendered can shape their whole experience of the NHS. Primary Care Without Barriers is a community-led pilot that will work with a GP practice at Meir to make that experience better. This will provide a tested model for wider roll-out.
New Vic Theatre Trust – The project will work with young people at Stoke-on-Trent Schools who are on CAMHS waiting lists or struggling to access timely support for their mental health. Using theatre, creative expression and discussion, the project will provide a safe, supportive space for young people to explore the causes and triggers of anxiety, recognise early signs of deteriorating mental health and identify practical strategies to help them manage difficult feelings.
DORCAS (Daughters, Optimistic, Respect, Courage, Assurance & Support) – DORCAS Women’s Health Connections will support 30 women living in Stoke-on-Trent through six community health and wellbeing sessions, confidential individual support and practical help accessing healthcare. The project will reach refugee, asylum-seeking and migrant women experiencing language barriers, trauma, isolation or difficulties navigating NHS services, including women affected by female genital mutilation (FGM).
Joiners Square Community Centre and North Staffs Prostate Cancer Support Group – Joiners Square Community Centre will strengthen its monthly Prostate Cancer Support Group. The group provides peer support, treatment information , a helpline and opportunities for patients, family members and carers to share lived experience. Funding will contribute to wider outreach, and contributions from clinicians, specialist organisations, and people with relevant lived experience. Group members will co-produce information and publicity materials to be more accessible, relevant, and informed.

Charlotte added: “The grants programme also gives us the opportunity to speak to people about the many initiatives which are designed to improve their health and wellbeing.”

“Thanks to all our Community Health Champions who put in applications and who made the job of our panel so challenging and rewarding.”

Back for 2026 – our Tackling Health Inequalities grants programme is open to Community Health Champions!

vast — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 08:48:18 +0000

Back for 2026 - our Tackling Health Inequalities grants programme is open to Community Health Champions!

Grants of up to £5,000 are available to support Community Health Champions in identifying and developing projects to tackle health inequalities in Stoke-on-Trent. 

Project proposals should demonstrate how the money can be used to tackle a health inequality they have identified. 

Previous grants have funded a diverse range of projects across the city. Last year’s grant funding has been used to help women from South Asian communities to exercise and become more health aware and supported the expansion of regular exercise classes for people with lung conditions.

In addition, a local CIC who found that air pollution and bad landlords was impacting on the health of their community is finding creative ways to make improvements.

Meanwhile, another has worked with VCSE groups to make songs about health inequalities which are available for use across the city. Read about the full list of recipients here.

To be eligible to apply for funding you must: 

Be a not-for-profit organisation (registered charity, social enterprise, unregistered charity, faith group, or community group) based in or operating in Stoke-on-Trent.

Have a bank account that has two signatories who are not related nor live at the same address.

Have staff and/or volunteers registered as Community Health Champions. You can read more about being a champion here.

Represent a specific community within Stoke-on-Trent. The community does not need to be a geographical community, it can be a community of interest or a cultural or faith community.

If successful, we will be working closely with you to capture the progress of your project, and share your stories and we encourage you to share your success on your own channels. 

Bids should demonstrate: 

The health inequalities you have identified.

How this health inequality affects your community in Stoke-on-Trent.

Your ideas to address this.

A cost breakdown.

Proposals may also include research projects to help better understand a specific health inequality. 

Understanding Health Inequalities  

To support the Tackling Health Inequalities Grants Programme we are holding Health Inequalities training by Dr Mike Oliver. The workshop, taking place on the morning of Wednesday 16th September at The Dudson Centre will help you understand:  

What we mean by health inequalities.

Why it is important for the day-to-day lives of people and community groups in and around Stoke-on-Trent.

What can be done to address health inequalities.

How community groups can use knowledge about health inequalities to influence decisions that affect their lives.

Attendance at the workshop is strongly recommended and you can book here.

If successful, we will work with you to capture the progress of your project and share your story and we encourage you to use your own channels to share your work.

Before applying, please download and read the full guidance document and application criteria here.

Closing date: Friday 2nd October, 2026 at 5pm. 

If you have any questions or queries about applying, please contact us at chc@vast.org.uk 

Training available to Community Health Champions

vast — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 16:02:19 +0000

Announcing Spring training for Champions!

We are encouraging all our Community Health Champions to take advantage of free and low-cost training opportunities on offer from VAST throughout 2026.

Every Champion is asked to complete the Health Literacy and Health Inequalities to give them the knowledge and skills required for the role.

Low health literacy is common throughout Stoke-on-Trent and many people struggle to read and understand medical information. Our Community Health Champions play a crucial role in bridging the gap between healthcare providers and the community and sharing important health information. Health literacy specialist Dr Mike Oliver will deliver two dedicated training sessions on Thursday 26 February and again on Tuesday 12 May.

The half-day sessions will help Champions to support people in their communities to make informed decisions and take the necessary actions to improve their health and well-being.

Understanding what health inequalities are and what people can do to address them is the focus of our Health Inequalities training for Champions which takes place on Tuesday 24 March and Tuesday 23 June.

Again, the training will be delivered by expert Dr Mike Oliver. Mike’s sessions are interactive and thought provoking and feedback from the most recent workshop praised “the facilitator, digestible content, opportunity to add own opinion – received graciously”.

Strategic Projects Manager Charlotte Bennett said: “Ultimately we want our Community Health Champions to feel confident to discuss health issues with members of their community and to share the information about where they can seek help to support for their health and wellbeing.”

Anyone who is registered as a Community Health Champion and has completed the core training can also take advantage of the extensive training programme on offer from VAST. Scheduled training sessions which you might find particularly useful include Introduction to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Engaging with Your Community and Having Difficult Conversations.

Grant applications are now OPEN!

vast — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 07:58:30 +0000

Grant Applications are now OPEN

Our Tackling Health Inequalities Grants Programme is back!

Grants of up to £5,000 are now available to support Community Health Champions in identifying and developing projects to tackle health inequalities in Stoke-on-Trent.

Project proposals should demonstrate how they have identified a health inequality affecting their community and how they can help.

Last year’s grants have funded a diverse range of projects across the city. These include the creation of trans-awareness training for staff at University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust carried out by Project 93 and research to explore the impacts of loneliness experienced by older people which was led by the Ageing Well Partnership.

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply for funding you must:

Be a not-for-profit organisation (registered charity, social enterprise, unregistered charity, faith group, or community group) that is based in or operates in Stoke-on-Trent.

Have a bank account that has two signatories who are not related nor live at the same address.

Have staff and/or volunteers registered as Community Health Champions. You can read more about being a champion *here*.

Represent a specific community within Stoke-on-Trent. The community does not need to be a geographical community, it can be a community of interest or a cultural or faith community.

If successful, we will be working closely with you to capture the progress of your project, and share your stories and we encourage you to share these on your own channels.

Bids should demonstrate:

The health inequalities you have identified.

How this health inequality affects your community in Stoke-on-Trent.

Your ideas to address this.

A cost breakdown.

Proposals may also include research projects to help better understand a specific health inequality.

Understanding Health Inequalities

To support the Tackling Health Inequalities Grants Programme we are excited to be working with Dr Mike Oliver (Chartered Psychologist and Registered Health Psychologist of Health Literacy Matters) who has designed a workshop to help you understand:

What we mean by health inequalities.

Why it is important for the day-to-day lives of people and community groups in and around Stoke-on-Trent.

What can be done to address health inequalities.

How community groups can use knowledge about health inequalities to influence decisions that affect their lives.

Although the workshops are not designed to provide advice on individual advice bids, attendance at the workshop on Tuesday 28th October is strongly recommended and you can book your place here.

If successful, we will be working closely with you to capture the progress of your project, and share your stories and we encourage you to share these on your own channels.

Before applying, please download and read the full guidance document and application criteria here.

Closing date: Friday 7th November.

If you have any questions or queries about applying, please contact us at chc@vast.org.uk

Older LGBT+ group shines spotlight on health inequalities

vast — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 13:04:59 +0000

Older LGBT+ group shines spotlight on health inequalities

LGBT+ people experience health inequalities in many aspects of their lives including their experience of accessing health services.

Being older can add to the difficulties experienced as many LGBT+ people have a long personal history of lived experiences that includes discrimination, rejection and social isolation.

Additionally, some people have lived large parts of their lives without feeling able to tell anyone that they are LGBT+ and this can increase their anxieties about accessing public services. Compared to the general population LGBT+ people have significantly poorer mental health, higher rates of alcohol and substance misuse, and a higher probability of suffering complex long-term conditions

The Health Inequalities grant funding has enabled Stoke-based LGBT+ Older People’s Group to support their social meetings with speakers on health-related issues including breast cancer and bowel cancer screening, mental health, social subscribers and dementia – monthly meetings regularly attracting between 20 – 28 people.

The group also conducted three online surveys to gather feedback from members to better understand their experiences of local services and how they could be improved and the findings are now published in full on the group’s website.

The three surveys covered Adult Social Care, Mental Health and Hospital and Primary Care respectively.

Andrew Colclough, Vice Chair of North Midlands LGBT+ Older People’s Group said: “We’ve shared the findings through our monthly newsletter which is regularly distributed to over 380 people and have received feedback from Staffordshire Adult Social Care Services who were very interested. The findings have also been shared with the national LGBT+ consortium and the national Patient Engagement Network.”

“As a broad theme, we really do want to raise awareness of what LGBT+ health inequalities are and for organisations to think ‘what can we do to make things better’. The most important thing is to have the conversation.”

“Anyone, anywhere accessing any services could be LGBT+ and while there is a not a one size fits all solution, we need services to be visibly supportive of LGBT+ and a wider range of health-related materials with language and imagery so that people feel better represented and welcome.”

“For local Primary Care, we’d like GP services to sign up to the Pride in Practice scheme to show they are LGBT+ friendly.”

North Midlands LGBT+ Older People’s Group would like all local health services to familiarise themselves with the findings and take action to address the themes.

The Three Surveys can be downloaded from the website:

Let’s Make It Better – Adult Social Care

Conducted March 2025, 23 respondents.

Main themes

Need for services to be visibly supportive of diverse LGBT+ identities
Availability of appropriate services and support

Download summary report – Let’s Make It Better – Adult Social Care

Let’s Make It Better – Mental Health

Conducted May 2025, 30 respondents.

Main themes

A need to boost awareness in local mental health services of the disproportionately high number of LGBT+ people with mental health issues
Local mental health services to consider LGBT+ issues and their competence to deal with them. Do staff and/or volunteers require further training to understand and respond appropriately?
A need to boost confidence that local mental health services can meet the needs of LGBT+ people. What can services do to reach out to LGBT+ people and boost their confidence in the services available?

Download summary report – Let’s Make It Better – Mental Health

Let’s Make It Better – Hospitals and Primary Care

Conducted June 2025, 18 respondents.

Main themes

GP practices to consider joining the national “Pride in Practice” scheme? (See here for details – LGBT Foundation Pride in Practice)
The need to improve visibility of LGBT+ friendly materials in GP practices and other health services.
Consideration of staff training and the actual sensitivity of staff to diverse LGBT+ people in practice. As one respondent said “It’s not all about flags and pronouns”.

Download summary report – Let’s Make It Better – Hospitals and Primary Care

Project 93: a tackling health inequalities case study

vast — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 13:20:19 +0000

Case study: Project 93

Project 93: a tackling health inequalities case study

Project 93 were set up in 1993 as a HIV charity. Since then their remit has grown to offer holistic support to the LGBTQ+ community.

Last year Project 93 were approached by University Hospitals North Midlands NHS Trust who were seeking Trans awareness training.

Having successfully applied for a Community Health Champions grant, Project 93 were able to develop on-line training for hospital staff.

Chief Executive Officer Darren Kempson said:

“The training has gone amazingly well. We’ve developed an outline of the training with a focus group of about 50 people and the Chief Executive has since made everyone aware of the training.

“We’ve recently followed up with some in person training and 15 people turned up and gave great feedback. We’re going to leave the online training in place and there appears to be a real appetite for more in-person training.”

Darren said he felt the trans awareness training they had developed had potential for role out to other employers including the emergency services.

He said: “It’s probably 80 per cent ready to go to other organisations. It’s one of those difficult things – it doesn’t effect lots of people but for those it does effect, it can have a massive impact.”

Project 93 already offer LGBT in the Workplace and Working with LGBT Youth training which are recognised as Continued Profession Development.

Core20PLUS Ambassadors Programme

vast — Fri, 08 Aug 2025 12:10:43 +0000

Information from: NHS England

Core20PLUS Ambassadors Programme

Recruitment for the fourth cohort of NHS England’s Core20PLUS Ambassadors Programme is open until Friday 12th September 2025.

The programme is looking for people who are working in the NHS and across Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) or wider in local authorities, the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector or in industry who:

are committed to improving access, experience, and outcomes,
have strong links to Core20PLUS communities, and
work in underserved areas, including rural and coastal regions.

The programme focuses on ‘Core20PLUS’ populations which are more likely to experience healthcare inequalities, including people living in areas of high deprivation, ethnic minority communities and inclusion health groups.

Who can apply

Anyone working in the NHS and across integrated care systems (ICSs) or wider in local authorities, voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) or in industry who is committed to narrowing healthcare inequalities.

The programme will particularly welcome applications from

Professionals with good links to Core20PLUS communities and from areas such as rural and coastal communities.

Key dates

recruitment closes: 12 September 2025
notification of successful applicants: Early October 2025
programme duration: November 2025 to October 2026

Support for ambassadors

Ambassadors are strongly connected with healthcare inequalities work at local/ICS, regional and national levels. As a Core20PLUS Ambassador, you will:

be supported to form local, regional, and national networks focused on reducing healthcare inequalities,
receive platforms and training to actively champion healthcare inequality improvement
access face-to-face and online learning events,
participate in self-directed development that suits your needs and builds your individual strengths, and
join the Core20PLUS Ambassadors Alumni Network after completing your year.

Ambassadors will enhance their knowledge, skills and insights to tackle healthcare inequalities while forming valuable professional networks.

They will also serve as an expert reference group for regional and national bodies seeking to narrow healthcare inequalities.

Tackling Health Inequalities | Project 93

vast — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 06:52:47 +0000

Tackling Health Inequalities | Project 93

Project 93 is a Community Health Champions: Tackling Health Inequalities grant holder, based at the Dudson Centre in Hanley. They’re using their grant to develop a brand-new training course for healthcare staff at University Hospitals North Midlands (UHNM).

This training helps to tackle the health inequalities that people in the trans community face when accessing health care.

The new online course, ‘Creating Inclusive Spaces: An Introduction to Transgender Inclusion’, provides a comprehensive introduction to key concepts around gender identity and the experiences of transgender people.

Darren, Project 93’s Chief Executive Officer said:

“The early response from healthcare professionals has been incredibly positive, highlighting a strong commitment to fostering inclusive spaces. An impressive 17 learners have already completed the course, with another 20 currently progressing through the material.”

Feedback from participants shows the significant impact of the training:

100% of attendees reported that the course helped them understand the practical steps required to create a more inclusive environment.
87.5% now feel more confident in their ability to use appropriate and respectful language.
87.5% said they would recommend the training to their colleagues.

Building on this positive momentum, Project 93 is now developing face-to-face training sessions. This next phase is being shaped directly by feedback from the initial participants, who expressed a strong interest in hearing more about individual lived experiences and learning how to apply their knowledge in daily practice.

These upcoming sessions will focus on key areas including the practical application of inclusive care in an NHS setting, understanding unconscious bias, and exploring the current legislation that affects patients.

This initiative is a powerful step towards ensuring healthcare services in the region are welcoming and supportive for everyone, and it demonstrates a fantastic commitment from local healthcare staff to learning and growth.