Health and Wellbeing of Caravan and Chalet Park

1

• Health and Wellbeing of Caravan and Chalet Park
• Residents
• East Riding of Yorkshire Council

2
Background

• Previous research - caravan and chalet parks
  around the UK are being used for residential use,
  despite being intended for holiday accommodation.
  
• Little research has been undertaken on this topic
  since Sir Arton Wilsons inconclusive report in
  1959. More recently a small study was carried
  out by Zenner and Allison in 2006 in the East
  Riding to establish the degree of ill health
  found amongst these residents.
• Previous evidence would suggest that this group
  of individuals has poor health, economic
  difficulties and is socially isolated. This
  study sought to consider evidence and identify if
  this group could or could not be characterised by
  these characteristics.

3
Motivation

• Potential for socio-economic and health problems
  in caravan park communities since a large
  proportion are older and materially deprived.
• Migrated to the area, due to financial hardships,
  the last major recession and the coal and steel
  closures. Due to these reasons and the current
  recession, a similar wave of displacement/involunt
  ary down shifting to areas like the East Coast is
  expected to continue.

4
Motivation

• Priority for the Council and our partners in NHS
  East Riding of Yorkshire
• Opportunity to develop links with a hard to reach
  group, as well as investigate consultation and
  engagement techniques for use in this community.
  
• The project allowed for close joint working with
  health organisations and other community leaders.

5
Aspirations

• To identify if there are significant health and
  wellbeing problems in caravan and chalet park
  communities
• To identify what these health and wellbeing
  problems are
• To identify where these health and wellbeing
  issues are (locations)
• To improve health for this community and promote
  a healthy lifestyle
• To identify gaps in service provision and
  influence resource allocation
• To ensure a community engagement approach and
  increase the role of this community in local
  problem solving

6
Aspirations

• To develop a strong partnership approach between
  East Riding of Yorkshire Council, NHS East Riding
  of Yorkshire and other key local organisations
• To inform policy discussions, help to tailor
  services to the populations need and facilitate
  the allocation of resources at a regional level
• To ensure sufficient information is available
  from the study to be used as a learning exercise
  for other local authorities and to inform
  national policy where appropriate, and
• To increase access to key services for vulnerable
  and hard to reach people and groups.

7
Innovative Approaches

• Consultation with individuals
• Face to Face interviews with long-term residents
  and caravan site owners took place in March 2009.
  Members of the Panel, the Scrutiny Team and an
  Independent consultant undertook interviews on
  the parks. These were semi-structured interviews
  which allowed the information needed to be
  obtained whist ensuring that residents were at
  ease with the situation. The informal approach
  succeeded in provided a valuable source of
  information.

8
Innovative Approaches

• Site Visits
• The Panel wanted to obtain information not only
  on the health of this group but also their on the
  lifestyle. As such, the Panel undertook site
  visits to view the facilities on site and in the
  local area first hand. In addition, during
  interviews many residents permitted panel members
  and the scrutiny team to see inside their homes.
  This is a testament to the panels ability to put
  those individuals at ease and to allow them to
  feel comfortable enough to provide them with
  access to such a personal part of their lives.

9
Innovative Approaches

• Audit of Sites
• The scrutiny team undertook an audit of all
  coastal caravan sites down the East Coast. This
  was the first time that cross-referencing from
  different sources had taken place and this
  approach allowed the team to over come the silos
  of information.
• Partnership Working
• From the start of the project, a strong
  relationship was built upon with key individuals
  in the NHS. Dr Allison, who had undertaken
  research on this topic previous, was the Link
  Director for this review. This meant that he
  advised the panel through-out their
  deliberations. In addition, a range of health
  professionals and key partners provided evidence
  to the panel.

10
Key Recommendations

• Health Issues
• One of the main problems raised during the review
  was the issue regarding long-term residents not
  registering with a local GP. It is therefore
  recommended that the NHS East Riding of
  Yorkshire and East Riding of Yorkshire Council
  work together to develop promotional tools to
  encourage all long-term residents to register
  permanently with a local GP. There should be a
  promotional package including leaflets to all
  residents, posters on caravan sites and
  information disseminated through local officials
  e.g. Coastal Health Workers and GPs.
• Isolation is an issue in terms of transport and
  the time taken for an ambulance to arrive at some
  of the more remote sites. This however, is the
  case for large areas of rural East Riding. Due
  to the high number of older people with
  significant health problems, however, it is
  recommended that someone on each caravan site is
  encouraged to train as a first responder in
  order to provide trained assistance prior to an
  ambulance arriving.

11
Key Recommendations

• Future Action
• To ensure the continued health and wellbeing of
  this group, the recommendations of this report
  will be monitored through a joint NHS and Social
  Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
• This group has significant health problems and it
  is felt that the Government should consider the
  problems faced by this community. Greater
  support is required to ensure they receive the
  health and social care required.

12
Key Recommendations

• Future Action
• Due to the time constraints of this review, it
  appears that it has only scratched the surface of
  the issues faced by this group. It is therefore,
  recommended that further research be undertaken
  by the NHS East Riding of Yorkshire in
  conjunction with the relevant Local Action Teams.
• Co-ordination and further investigation needs to
  be undertaken on this subject. In addition, this
  hard-to-reach group should be more engaged with
  local decision making. It is therefore,
  recommended that further work be undertaken by
  the relevant Local Action Teams to develop tools
  to engage with this community.