We worked hard to hold sessions in venues where we weren't used to holding sessions

Lifestyles Fridays, launched in 2004, is a community-based drop-in service run by North Fulham New Deal for Communities (NDC). The sessions were initially run on a weekly basis, then fortnightly, and include cholesterol and blood-pressure testing.

Since May of this year the NDC has been working in partnership with Hammersmith & Fulham PCT with the aim of scaling the project up across the borough.

'Our rates of coronary heart disease are high, although not dissimilar to the rest of the borough,' says health advisor Leona Condliffe. 'Our target is to reduce hospital admissions, but we are also keen to work with people with long-term conditions, so we use the drop-in sessions to attract people we needed to contact.

'The PCT is bound by local area agreements, such as reducing high cholesterol levels. We are able to innovate and hand over successes to the PCT who can then mainstream them. The PCT also provides &Quot;match&Quot; funding for many projects. They might pay for somebody's time or provide publicity or a venue.

'Our centre is right in the heart of the North Fulham community. The word has spread and we have queues outside the building. It is not like making an appointment with the GP - a lot of people who attend aren't even registered.

'The sessions are informal and held where people feel comfortable. We make referrals to the exercise referral scheme and stop smoking service.'

Individuals referred to the GP are at a significantly increased risk of cardiac-related issues such as MI and stroke or diabetes. If these risk factors were left unidentified, there is a strong likelihood that these individuals would eventually present in the acute sector.

'We worked hard to hold sessions in venues where we weren't used to holding sessions. With the local mosque, we dropped in very informally, speaking to the curator. Then we had to be flexible enough to offer male-only and female-only sessions with interpreters.

'We work in pubs, supermarkets and shelters. Deprived Muslim and BME communities are hard to reach, but those barriers are two-way.'

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