1. Voluntary and Community Sector Conference
Paul Volker
Claire Rees

2. Is Making Every Contact Count?
Making Every Contact Count enables organisations and individuals to develop and be able to use a different approach to working with people to address health and wellbeing. Telling people what to do is not the most effective way to help them to change. Making Every Contact Count is about altering how we interact with people through learning how to recognise opportunities to talk to people about their wellbeing.
Making Every Contact Count (MECC) is about supporting workforces to maximise on the public health opportunity they have with their regular contact with the public. Staff from a variety of organisation can make a difference to the health and wellbeing of the population by encouraging people to change behaviours that may be damaging to their health.
DEFINITION
Making Every Contact Count training allows workforces to:
Deliver a ‘very brief’ or ‘brief’ evidence based advice/intervention for lifestyle behavioural change;
Be competent and confident to do this; and
Be knowledgeable about local services and how to access them.
MECC is about transforming the culture to one that looks to enhance positive outcomes through providing people with information and encouragement.
MECC is not about additional workload but developing skills to enable staff to use a different approach to engage with people to support them to make changes to their lifestyles to improve their health.

3. Making Every Contact Count as a Behaviour Change Intervention
This diagram illustrates MECC as a behaviour change intervention, the triangle maps Making Every Contact Count to the NICE PH guidance 49 Behaviour Change: individual approaches
Starting at the top....
ORANGE - Behaviour change service providers and practitioners providing high intensity interventions (typically these last more than 30 minutes and are delivered over a number sessions) for people they regularly work with. Examples include Health Trainers, alcohol teams, smoking cessation advisors and IAPT workers.
GREEN - Health and social care staff dealing with the general public to provide an extended brief intervention to people they regularly see for 30 minutes or more who are involved in risky behaviours (for example higher risk drinking), have a number of health problems, have been assessed as being at increased or higher risk of harm, have been successfully making changes to their behaviour but need more support to maintain that change have found it difficult to change or have not benefited from a very brief or brief intervention. More intensive behaviour change training such as Health Coaching or Motivational Interviewing would equip people with the necessary skills to be able to support people.
The bottom 2 levels, pink and blue, represent MECC
PINK - Staff who regularly come into contact with people whose health and wellbeing could be at risk to provide them with a brief intervention. A brief intervention involves oral discussion, negotiation or encouragement, with or without written or other support or follow-up. It may also involve a referral for further interventions, directing people to other options, or more intensive support. Brief interventions can be delivered by anyone who is trained in the necessary skills and knowledge. These interventions are often carried out when the opportunity arises, typically taking no more than a few minutes for basic advice.
BLUE – for everyone in direct contact with the general public - very brief intervention to motivate people to change behaviours that may damage their health. The interventions should also be used to inform people about services or interventions that can help them improve their general health and wellbeing. Examples include paramedics, receptionists.
Triangle illustrates smaller proportion of staff and people they work with as you progress up the pyramid.
Recruitment of pilot sites
March 2013
Organisational Readiness Assessment
Healthy Conversation Skills Train-the-Trainer courses
Baseline pre-MECC survey
Healthy Conversation Skills staff training
MECC Implementation
Post-MECC Staff survey & Organisational reassessment
Post-MECC Interviews & Focus Groups
Recruitment of pilot sites
March 2013
Organisational Readiness Assessment
Healthy Conversation Skills Train-the-Trainer courses
Baseline pre-MECC survey
Healthy Conversation Skills staff training
MECC Implementation
Post-MECC Staff survey & Organisational reassessment
Post-MECC Interviews & Focus Groups
Recruitment of pilot sites
March 2013
Organisational Readiness Assessment
Healthy Conversation Skills Train-the-Trainer courses
Baseline pre-MECC survey
Healthy Conversation Skills staff training
MECC Implementation
Post-MECC Staff survey & Organisational reassessment
Post-MECC Interviews & Focus Groups

4. The Need for Making Every Contact Count
As already stated, Making Every Contact Count is about delivering a ‘very brief’ or ‘brief’ evidence based interventions for lifestyle behavioural change; the core elements of which are:
stopping smoking,
increasing physical activity,
reducing alcohol consumption
maintaining a healthy weight & diet and
promoting mental and emotional health and wellbeing
There are many benefits of Making Every Contact Count for organisations and teams and ultimately the people across populations and communities. Wessex MECC evaluation showed that as a result of implementing MECC in organisations it did have a positive impact on staff’s own health and wellbeing. So could also be a strong offer for workplace health initiatives as a way of staff supporting each other around health and wellbeing.
Evidence shows that brief interventions on healthy living are cost-effective. The annual cost to NHS as a result of lifestyle choices has a greater impact on the rest of the services and organisations that exist within a system such as social care, voluntary sector services and local authorities. This means that there will essentially be less money available for everyone as a result of the cost of increased poor health.
The green figures illustrate the cost of each of the lifestyles. It has been estimated that the economic and social costs of mental health problems in England was £105 billion.

5. MECC Conversation starters
What would be the most useful thing to start getting your problems resolved?
How much time do you have for a chat?
What would stop you from being able to do that?
How often do you use your heating? Have you heard about the ‘warm and well’ scheme?
How can we make that happen?
How can we get you there?
What do you currently do?

6. Referral routes
Wellbeing College- A range of courses and taster sessions to boost feelings of wellbeing in a positive environment
or sgwellbeingcollege.org
SportsPound- for patients to get back into sports and trial different activities or
Healthy lifestyles- (Walking to health, Rethinking Eating and Children's Health (REACH), Older People friendship and exercise clubs, Dancing. or
Stop smoking services or
Leisure Centres or
Library services or
Nextlink or
Paul we need to tidy the signposting - when we meet we can look at Brias Healthy Lifetsyles slides and incorporate those for sending to attendees for reference in everyday work.

7. Referral routes Community connectorsor
 Talking Therapies
Tel: or
Firstcontact- Helps people over the age of 60 to access a range of information or
Drug and alcohol services or

8. Referral routes Stop smoking services –or
Leisure Centres - or
Library services - or
Food plan information – or
Mental health & emotional wellbeing:

9. Council Website
Library Services
Public Health Website
Priority Neighbourhood Leads
Clinical Commissioning Website
Children’s Centres
Well Aware
Home Energy Team (fuel poverty training)
Wellbeing College
Free Child Safety Equipment
First Contact
SportsPound Voucher
Promoting Positive Mental Health
Website for Welfare Advice
Street Games
Talking Therapies
Fit & Fed
Health Champions
The Compass Project
Community Connectors
Local Foodbanks
Credit Unions
Welfare Grant Scheme
Breakthrough Mentoring
Free fruit and Veg
Walking for Health
Flu/Vaccination Clinics
Stop Smoking Service
NHS Health Check

10. The Carers Centre
Citizens Advice
Community Organisations; Juice, Batch, Kingsmeadow Flat, Southern Brooks Partnership, Bourne Project
Avon Fire & Rescue
One You
NHS Live Well
Fuel Poverty Training
Job Centre Plus
CYP Client Services Desk
1 BIG Database
Money Advice Service
Healthy Start Vouchers
National Debt Line Resilience Training
Free School Meals
Breakfast Clubs
Step Change Charity
Nextlink/Julian House
North Bristol Advice Centre
Money smart/Money Mentors