IMPACT SNAPSHOT: Bradford’s Community Health Checks Program

We created community-led cardiovascular health screenings in trusted settings such as mosques, achieving 94% participant satisfaction and identifying previously undiagnosed hypertension.

#Sickness to Prevention
#Hospital to Community

The Yorkshire and Humber ARC’s Improvement Academy developed an innovative community-led approach to tackle cardiovascular disease in underserved populations through their Community Health Checks initiative.

Key Impacts:
• Successfully delivered health checks in trusted community venues including mosques and community centers.
• Achieved 94% satisfaction rate among participants.
• Identified numerous cases of previously undiagnosed hypertension, enabling early intervention.
• Developed a comprehensive Standard Operating Procedure and implementation toolkit now adopted by Bradford Care Alliance.
• Recognized with HSJ Patient Safety Award shortlisting.
• Successfully integrated local clinical providers with community organisations, faith leaders, and social prescribers.

The project demonstrates how ARC infrastructure enables genuine co-production with communities traditionally excluded from healthcare services. By bringing clinical services into trusted community settings, the program overcame cultural, language, and accessibility barriers. Without NIHR funding, this community-centered approach would have been significantly limited in scope and sustainability.

The initiative exemplifies how applied research collaborations can develop practical solutions to health inequalities through collaborative approaches involving multiple stakeholders. The model is now being prepared for wider adoption, with resources and guidance available to support scaling across other regions with similar cardiovascular health disparities.