About us
Health Trainers were originally identified in 2004 where ‘Choosing Health: Making healthy choices easier’ (DH 2004) gave a commitment that from 2006 NHS Health Trainers would be providing information, motivation and practical support to individuals in their local communities.
In 2008, ‘Health Inequalities: Progress and next steps’ (DH 2008) made a commitment to roll out Health Trainers to every community, and extend their reach with an additional network of Health Champions who will operate as an outreach team, facilitating uptake of Health Trainer services and other interventions, as appropriate.
The development of Health Trainer Services within the East Midlands commenced in 2006 with Derbyshire County PCT as one of the ‘early adopter‘ sites, Nottingham City PCT as a spearhead site and Leicestershire County and Rutland PCT who put in a successful bid to develop a alongside spearhead PCTs. The East Midlands have been instrumental in contributing to the development of a robust programme with national qualification and role definitions which we now refer to as the ‘Health Trainer Service’.
Health Trainers Services are now active in Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Northamptonshire, Nottingham City, Nottinghamshire County and Bassetlaw. Although each service is based upon the national guidelines and regional approach to service development, each service will differ as it responds to the needs of its community. Therefore a range of service models exist across the region in a number of different settings.
East Midlands Health Trainer Services are supported by the East Midlands Health Trainer Hub, which is one of 10 national partnerships funded by the Department of Health. The Hub works to shape the strategic direction of Health Trainer Service development across the region and share best practice. From sharing good practice we will learn which service models work best for different communities and individuals.