Stephen Peckham

Prospects for collaboration in primary care: relationships between social services and the new PCGs

The article considers the relationships established between the new Primary Care Groups (PCGs) in England and Social Services Departments. It reports on qualitative research into localisation and collaboration in PCGs and reviews the main factors involved in the creation of collaborative relationships. Collaboration is a required element of planning in primary care but the extent and nature of its realisation is shaped by the particular interaction of local history with the new structures. Four localities were chosen for the qualitative stage of the research in order to learn how local configurations and existing relationships affected, and were affected by, the PCG. The article identifies the complex relationships which exist between PCGs and social services and the discusses the main features in promoting or undermining collaboration.

Bringing health care to schools: first phase evaluation of the Bodyzone Project

Adolescent health service provision is an area of growing concern in the UK, where a number of studies have indicated that young people in their teenage years find accessing formal health services difficult. The Bodyzone Project in Oxfordshire is an innovative programme aimed at bringing health services into schools to ensure greater accessibility. This paper reports on the first phase of a programme of evaluation of the Bodyzone Project, involving a cross‐sectional study. Methods used were both qualitative and quantitative to explore student knowledge, attitudes and behaviours with regards to health issues, health services and the Bodyzone service. The results of the study indicate that Bodyzone is a valued service for those who use it and by schools where it is based. However, there is also a clear indication of unmet health promotion and service need amongst students of those schools, which the current configuration of Bodyzone is not able to address fully.