Posted on: 18 September 2026
Building healthier and more resilient communities through engagement
Hello, my name is Lewis. I lead the YAS community engagement team which works across Yorkshire to help people understand our services, learn life-saving skills and feel more confident responding to health emergencies.
Since joining YAS in 2021 I have worked with my team, colleagues and partners to develop an approach that focuses on people most likely to need our services, particularly those experiencing poorer health outcomes or barriers to accessing care.
A different approach to ambulance service community engagement
Although ambulance services are a highly visible part of the NHS, people often meet us only at their most difficult moments. Proactive engagement creates a different kind of relationship - one built before an emergency happens and based on trust, dialogue and practical support.
Our work is deliberately varied. Alongside raising awareness of urgent and emergency care and teaching life-saving skills, we deliver employment and life-skills programmes that create wider benefits for individuals and communities.
We have built strong relationships with communities that YAS and our partners have not always reached effectively. We want people to leave our activities more confident about what to do in a health emergency, but we also recognise that our trusted position enables us to make a broader difference to people’s lives.
That is why we focus particularly on communities experiencing health inequalities and barriers to services. These are often the people most likely to need our help, now or in the future, but who may find it hardest to access.
Our impact across Yorkshire
During 2025/26, our team and community engagement volunteers delivered 360 events and activities, engaging around 18,000 people across Yorkshire. We also helped community organisations and schools establish their own life-saving skills training.
Highlights included:
- Restart a Heart, our mass CPR training campaign, which taught more than 44,000 children CPR in October 2025 – this is in addition to the 18,000 people engaged in our year-round community engagement activity.
- Targeted first-aid awareness sessions in areas experiencing deprivation and with migrant communities.
- Engagement with refugees and people seeking asylum to improve understanding of our services.
- Achieve and Get Started with YAS, which support people from disadvantaged backgrounds to develop employment and life skills.
- Trauma-informed training co-produced with people who have experienced homelessness and addiction, helping colleagues better support people who frequently use our services.
YAS Charity supports this work by funding equipment, projects and training, including resources that enable schools and community organisations to run life-saving skills courses locally.
Our nearly 100 community engagement volunteers are equally important. These YAS staff and volunteers give their own time to represent the trust in their communities. In 2025/26, around half our community engagement activity (excluding Restart a Heart) was delivered by our volunteers.
Some of the communities and populations reached through our targeted work include:
- people experiencing homelessness, addiction, offending or multiple unmet needs
- women at risk of violence and exploitation
- refugees and people seeking asylum
- young people not in employment, education or training
- communities where English is not the first language
- people preparing to leave prison and return to the community
Why our approach matters
Our approach is grounded in reducing health inequalities and in YAS’s role as an anchor organisation. We cannot solve every challenge, but we can use our reach, resources and relationships to create lasting local benefit. That might mean helping a disadvantaged young person move into employment, enabling a community group to teach life-saving skills, or supporting people to build confidence, teamwork and emotional resilience alongside first aid.
Building community resilience
Because my team covers such a large area, our impact can sometimes be dispersed. In 2026, with funding from NHS Charities Together, we are beginning a two-year community resilience project focused on neighbourhoods in Bradford and Barnsley.
The project will bring together life-saving skills, public health interventions and sustained local support. Our aim is to help communities become better prepared for health emergencies while creating benefits that continue beyond the project itself.
I am hugely proud of our team and volunteers, and of their commitment to making a difference. As we look ahead, we want to build on what works, deepen our relationships with communities and increase the lasting impact we make together.
What's been happening?
Chair appointed for Board of Leeds Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Helen Thomson has been appointed as Chair of the Trust Board of what will be Leeds Partnership NHS Foundation Trust from 1 April 2027, the organisation created through the merger of Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LYPFT) and Leeds Community Healthcare Trust (LCH).
Helen is currently Chair of LCH and has been appointed following a recruitment process involving the lead governor for LYPFT and the Regional Chair of NHS England. She will continue in her role at LCH until 1 April 2027 when she will take up her new role, subject to formal governance approval. LYPFT Chair Merran McRae has decided to step down when the transition happens.
Announcing the news, joint Chief Executive of LCH and LYPFT, Dr Sara Munro, said: "I'm delighted that Helen will be the chair of the new trust. She brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience not only as an NHS board member, but also as a clinician, academic and leader.
You can find out more on the Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust website.
Hundreds of NHS staff across West Yorkshire take on 24-Hour Therapy Dash
More than 200 NHS staff from across West Yorkshire will run, row and cycle non-stop for 24 hours on 18 September to raise money for local hospital charities.
The 24-Hour Therapy Dash began at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in 2025 and has since grown into a region-wide challenge, with NHS colleagues across West Yorkshire committing to keep moving for charity.
This year, teams from Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust will take part, raising money for their respective hospital charities. Find out more on the BTHT website.
Inside the fight against Yorkshire’s deadliest cancer
Lung cancer is the biggest cause of cancer-based deaths in Yorkshire, with deaths double those of breast and prostate cancer.
Thanks to a pioneering testing programme, more people in Leeds are benefiting from earlier detection of lung cancer, increasing the likelihood of successful treatment and survival.
The self-request chest X-ray service is available for anyone over 40 who is registered with a Leeds GP and has had a cough, fatigue or tiredness, difficulty in breathing, loss of appetite or weight, chest pain, coughing up blood, or a lump in the neck, for more than three weeks. Find out more on the LTHT website.
NHS kicks off flu jabs for children and pregnant women ahead of winter
The NHS flu vaccination programme has started for children and pregnant women, with other eligible groups invited from 1 October. Vaccinations will be available through schools, GP practices, maternity services and participating pharmacies. There’s more information on the Partnership website.
Neighbourhood Health case studies highlight joined-up local care
Two of our latest Neighbourhood Health case studies highlight how we are working together to provide joined-up, personalised care in local communities, while giving residents the opportunity to understand how services are planned and delivered and help shape what happens next.
Co-ordinated frailty and respiratory support
People living with severe frailty and respiratory disease in East Leeds are receiving more co-ordinated support through an advanced respiratory programme, helping them stay well at home and access the right care more quickly. Delivered through the Cross Gates and Seacroft Local Care Partnerships, the work brings together a care co-ordinator, community matron and a network of health, care and voluntary sector professionals around each individual.
By working together, the team can respond more proactively to people's changing needs and provide support that goes beyond medical treatment. The work is helping people and their carers feel more supported by providing regular contact with professionals who take time to understand their wider needs. Rather than responding only when someone becomes unwell, the team works proactively to co-ordinate support, improve continuity of care and connect people with the services they need before problems escalate.
For more information see the ‘advanced respiratory initiative helps people in East Leeds stay well at home’ case study on our Neighbourhood Health website pages.
Seacroft residents have their say
Residents in Seacroft are having their say on the future of local health and care through the Seacroft Speaks Think Tank Project. Through regular group sessions, residents have explored how organisations such as the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board, primary care networks and local care partnerships work, as well as what a neighbourhood health approach means in practice.
The opportunity also provides one-to-one, community-based support. People identified through clinical pathways can be connected with local services that tackle some of the wider issues affecting their health and wellbeing. Feedback shows that the initiative is helping residents feel more confident, informed and ready to have their say.
For more information see the ‘Seacroft Speaks is helping residents shape the future of local health and care’ case study on our Neighbourhood Health Website pages.
These activities support Neighbourhood Health which brings together the NHS, councils, voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations and other partners such as the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to improve health, reduce inequalities and help people live well for longer.