Brent Health Matters wins 2025 Excellence in Health Creation Award
Brent Health Matters (BHM) has won the 2025 Excellence in Health Creation Award for the Best health creating grassroots approach to reducing the impact of long-term conditions, in recognition of its innovative Children and Young People’s Asthma Community Coaches (ACC) programme.
The award, presented by the Health Creation Alliance, celebrates initiatives that build long-term health by empowering communities. The BHM programme was recognised for its community-led model, which trains local residents to support families in managing childhood asthma in one of London’s most diverse and high-need boroughs.
The ACC programme was launched in June 2025 in response to Brent’s childhood asthma burden, which is nearly double the national average. Brent is home to more than 149 languages and has high levels of health and numeracy inequality, with 40% of residents not having English as a first language and around 72% below basic literacy thresholds. With just two specialist nurses and one healthcare assistant, the BHM clinical team faced the challenge of reaching communities with very different languages, cultures and lived experiences.
Rather than trying to expand clinical services alone, BHM worked alongside community leaders, parents, faith groups and volunteers who were already having conversations about asthma but lacked formal training and information. With no national non-medical asthma training programme available, the team co-designed one from scratch with the community and continues to adapt it based on ongoing feedback.
Asthma Community Coaches complete Tier 1 National Asthma Training and receive in-person support to help families recognise symptoms early, use inhalers and spacers correctly, and manage environmental triggers such as housing issues, pollution and smoking. They also help families navigate local and national services, support early self-management before GP appointments, and challenge common myths and misinformation around asthma.
As part of the programme, coaches are given free BHM Spacer Packs to distribute within their communities. These include a spacer device, multilingual and multimedia educational materials, information on local council and charity services, and asthma nurse specialist self-referral forms. This directly reduces barriers to correct treatment and equipment while reinforcing consistent messaging around asthma management.
Early results from the programme show strong impact. Coaches have recorded a 65% increase in asthma knowledge and a 76% increase in confidence. Among families reached, 100% reported that they now understand how to use spacers properly, intend to use them correctly, and will share this knowledge and the resources within their wider community.
Bethan Almeida, Senior Nurse Health Inequalities Team- Brent Children, said: “This programme highlights what happens when you empower and trust communities to lead. Our coaches are local parents, faith leaders and volunteers who understand the realities families face every day. They are part of their communities, have the relationships, and know how to reach people in ways we never could. When they told us they wanted training and tools to help, we built it together and we keep improving it based on what they tell us. That partnership is what makes this work so well.”
The award highlights the growing recognition of grassroots, health-creating approaches as essential to tackling long-term conditions and health inequalities. In addition to this, the team were also shortlisted for a 2025 HSJ Award in the category Reducing Inequalities and Improving Outcomes for Children and Young People.
