About Betsi Cadwaladr

 

Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board Approach to MECC 

The Making Every Contact Count (MECC) approach in North Wales is helping to increase the number of healthy conversations taking place between the local workforce and its population. 

Through utilising the everyday interactions that occur between those that live and work in North Wales, MECC is helping to encourage, support and empower the people of north Wales to make lifestyle changes.    

 

Our approach to MECC in North Wales aims to:

  • Develop the knowledge, skills and confidence of staff to empower them to have healthy conversations
  • Enable staff to have healthy conversations through considering and adapting departmental systems and processes to facilitate embedding the MECC approach
  • Encourage staff to consider their own health and wellbeing and through conversations influence that of their families, friends and colleagues  

What is MECC?
 

Making Every Contact Count (MECC) is a national programme that puts the protection and promotion of health and well-being at the heart of every contact.

Making Every Contact Count (MECC) is an approach that encourages and empowers those working within the health sector and beyond, to use every appropriate opportunity to promote healthy lifestyle choices through brief advice and brief intervention and to signpost to relevant community based and healthcare services

  • MECC is a tool that embeds the systematic promoting of the benefits of healthy lifestyle into everyday practice.
  • MECC encourages the workforce to recognise the role they have in promoting healthy lifestyles, supporting behaviour change and contributing to reducing the risk of illness.

 MECC is NOT:

  •  Adding another job to already busy working days
  •  Staff becoming specialists or experts in certain lifestyle topics
  •  Staff becoming counsellors or providing ongoing support
  •  Staff telling somebody what to do or how to live their life

 Why should we MECC?

  • Lifestyle factors such as smoking, alcohol, poor diet and reduced physical activity are some of the biggest contributors to health inequalities. Many preventable deaths and illnesses such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and some cancers could be avoided by making healthier lifestyle choices.
  • Evidence has shown that offering appropriate person centred brief advice or brief intervention at key points in people’s lives can help them to change their behaviour and stay healthy. It is a technique that can be used for a range of behaviours.

Please see the link below for our MECC information booklet, which provides further details on our MECC approach and provides information on how we can support you and your team/service to implement MECC within your workplace.

2019-01-07 MECC Information Booklet.pdf

For further information please contact BCUHB Public Health Team on:

 BCU.PHAdmin@wales.nhs.uk   Tel: 03000 858 695