You might have heard of the 'Making Every Contact Count' (MECC) approach to health and wellbeing.
This simply means taking the chance, during any conversation you have, to talk about how people can make positive improvements to their health or wellbeing.
MECC uses the skills of asking questions and listening.
This does not mean every time you talk to someone you should talk about health and wellbeing, but it’s about spotting times when it could be good to do and recognising opportunities to talk to people about their wellbeing.
By including preconception health messages in regular appointments, people can start to understand the importance of pregnancy preparation.
Regular appointments can mean anything from dental check-ups and pharmacy consultations to housing and financial advice and social care appointments.
Consistent and repeated messages help to reinforce the importance of preconception health, making it a normal part of health conversations.
Providing leaflets and posters in your organisation means that people can find information about preconception health at their own convenience.
Joined Up Care Derbyshire offers support around Making Every Contact Count through their quality conversations at Joined Up Care Derbyshire.
The programme offers training and ongoing support to ensure quality communication across Derbyshire.
It’s free for all staff across Derby and Derbyshire who work in primary care, community services, social care and voluntary Services. View the quality conversations at Joined Up Care Derbyshire.
By making sure that preconception health is linked into existing services, and emphasising the importance of planned pregnancies, we can improve health outcomes for parents and children, reduce health disparities, and create a healthier future generation.
Promoting health equity
Giving everyone access to knowledge and resources to improve birth outcomes is essential for creating more equitable health outcomes across all Derbyshire residents regardless of their social or economic status.
Many communities in Derbyshire lack access to essential healthcare services, including reproductive health education and preconception care.
Making sure that everyone has equitable access to knowledge about preconception health is vital for improving the health outcomes of Derbyshire’s future generations.