MHH ROVING CLINICAL BUS
Diabetes 8 Care Process Outreach
MHH’s Diabetes 8 Care Process Outreach supports GP practices to reach patients who have outstanding elements of their routine diabetes care and who may have found it difficult to engage with their usual appointments. The clinical bus provides a convenient setting for patients to complete appropriate checks, which can include blood pressure, weight and BMI, foot checks, urine ACR and blood tests, alongside recording smoking status where required. The service complements, rather than replaces, existing diabetes care and specialist reviews, while providing GP practices with an additional way of engaging patients and helping them complete important elements of their annual diabetes health checks. Clinics also run alongside some InHealth Retinal Screening so patients may be offered an appointment on the clinical bus to have their outstanding health checks done after their retinal screening appointment.
We have clinics coming up at Totton Civic Centre, Andover War Memorial Hospital and Andover Chantry Centre, John Pounds Centre, Badger Farm Surgery, Winchester and at Fair Oak & Horton Heath Parish Council Offices over the coming weeks.
Roving LARC Clinics
MHH’s Roving Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) Clinics take contraceptive care directly into communities, providing access to contraceptive implants and coils in locations outside traditional GP settings. The service is designed to offer greater flexibility and choice for people who may experience difficulties accessing LARC through routine services, including where local waiting lists are longer. Patients can self-refer for an assessment, helping to remove the need for a GP referral and making the pathway easier to navigate. By taking LARC clinics directly into communities, MHH is helping to make contraceptive care more accessible and responsive to local need, across Hampshire and into Dorset.
Clinics are routinely held at several locations across Hampshire at:
Eastleigh, Wickham, Gosport, Basingstoke and Hayling Island
and across Dorset at:
Sturminster Newton and Ringwood
Additional clinics continuously being added.
Chronic Kidney Disease Outreach
Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) outreach is helping MHH take kidney health checks directly into community settings, making it easier for people to understand and take action on their kidney health. Working in partnership with the NHS and community organisations, the team offers free BP checks and conversations designed to identify people who may be at risk of kidney disease and encourage appropriate follow-up. By bringing these checks into places where people already live, work and spend time, the service aims to reduce barriers to accessing preventative healthcare and support earlier identification of kidney health concerns.
HPV Vaccinations
The clinical bus has supported in bringing HPV vaccinations closer to young people and their families, helping to improve access to the NHS vaccination programme. By taking vaccination clinics into accessible community locations, MHH can provide an alternative to traditional healthcare settings and help reach young people who may have missed or been unable to attend their routine vaccination appointment. The flexible nature of the bus means clinics can be delivered where they are most needed, supporting efforts to improve vaccination uptake and reduce inequalities in access.
Press Release:
Driving better health: Mid Hampshire Healthcare official launch event for its Roving Clinical Bus
Mid Hampshire Healthcare (MHH) held an official launch for its Roving Clinical Service, bringing NHS healthcare directly into the communities where it is needed most.
At the heart of MHH’s work is a commitment to Driving Better Health; finding innovative ways to make healthcare more accessible and helping people receive the right care at the right time and in the right place.
The Roving Clinical Service is a natural extension of that approach. Rather than expecting everyone to travel to traditional healthcare settings, the clinical bus allows MHH to take services out into communities and closer to people who may face practical, financial, social, cultural or other barriers to accessing routine healthcare.
Bringing healthcare into communities
The special launch event brought together the Mayor and Mayoress of Winchester, NHS colleagues, commissioners, local councils, community organisations and partners from across Hampshire and beyond, alongside the MHH Head Office team and members of the clinical bus team.
The event was an opportunity to celebrate the journey of the clinical bus, which has already been out in the community for six months, delivering healthcare services in locations designed to make access easier for people who may find it difficult to attend routine appointments.
The fully equipped clinical bus provides a flexible NHS healthcare environment, allowing MHH to take services directly into community settings and reach people experiencing health inequalities.
Services delivered through the outreach programme include diabetes health checks, chronic kidney disease (CKD) outreach, Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) and HPV vaccinations, with the service continuing to develop and expand across the region and into Dorset.
Working together to reach communities
The launch highlighted the importance of partnership working, with representatives from NHS organisations, councils, commissioners, primary care and community groups coming together to support a shared ambition: making healthcare more accessible and bringing services closer to the people who need it.
The event also showcased the people behind the project, from the clinical teams delivering care on the bus to the MHH Head Office team who have worked tirelessly to mobilise, co-ordinate and promote the service.
Gill Parr, Neighbourhood Engagement Manager at Mid Hampshire Healthcare, who organised the launch event, said:
“We couldn’t be happier to have the opportunity to showcase to our colleagues, partners and friends what we have achieved in such a short space of time. We have only had the bus for six months, but already it is making a real difference in the way we can take healthcare into our communities.
“The launch was the perfect opportunity to bring everyone together, in such a beautiful local setting, to celebrate the innovation behind our clinical bus and the incredible work of the teams who have made it possible. It was a really special evening and a chance to celebrate just how far we have come in six months.”
Karla Salt, Chief Executive of Mid Hampshire Healthcare, said:
“The bus is much more than a vehicle. It is a way of taking NHS healthcare into communities and breaking down some of the barriers people face when accessing services.
“It has taken an incredible amount of teamwork, commitment and partnership working to get us here, and we are incredibly proud of what the team has achieved.”
The Mayor and Mayoress were among the guests attending the evening, helping MHH celebrate this important milestone and learn more about how the service is supporting communities across the region.
Interest from further afield
The launch also welcomed guests from outside Hampshire, highlighting the growing interest in innovative mobile healthcare models.
Representatives from Grampian NHS travelled from Scotland to attend the launch, spending two days with the MHH team learning about the development, operation and delivery of the clinical bus. The Grampian team is exploring how a similar model could be developed to bring healthcare closer to communities across Aberdeen.
Their visit provided an opportunity to share MHH’s experience, including what has worked, the challenges involved in establishing a mobile clinical environment and how the service can be adapted to meet the needs of different communities.
The interest from organisations beyond Hampshire demonstrates the potential for mobile healthcare to play a growing role in reducing barriers to accessing NHS services and reaching people in places where traditional healthcare provision may not always be accessible.
Looking ahead
While the official launch marks an important milestone, the work is only beginning.
MHH will continue to identify communities where healthcare is under-served and work with local partners to take appropriate services directly to those areas.
The Roving Clinical Service will continue to evolve alongside the needs of the communities it serves, with opportunities to introduce new services, develop new partnerships and reach people who may otherwise struggle to engage with routine healthcare.
The ambition is simple:
NHS healthcare, where people need it.
The MHH Roving Clinical Service is helping turn that ambition into reality - one community at a time.
Driving Better Health.
