image.pngHello, my name is Paula

At West Yorkshire Harrogate Health and Care partnership we are committed to tackling Health Inequalities, wherever they exist.

We know that as well as bringing untold misery and suffering to many thousands the Covid pandemic has also exposed and amplified health inequalities.

Health inequalities are unfair and avoidable, they do not occur randomly or by chance. They are socially determined by circumstances largely beyond a person’s control.  At the Partnership we are determined to consider health inequalities in everything we do, ensuring that nobody is left behind and everyone irrespective of age, gender, ethnicity, or socio-economic status, can access high quality, safe and welcoming healthcare services.

We are therefore focusing on some of the areas with greatest need and where our data tells us the biggest inequalities exist.

We are committed to working collaboratively and we have therefore established a number of ‘Community of Practices’ on specific issues including migrant health, healthy hospitals, mental health, preconception and maternity, policing, serious violence and criminal justice. These bring together individuals and groups (including experts by experience) with a shared interest and facilitate discussion and action on policy areas. We recently held the inaugural Community of Practice for Mental Health where it was evident that there was an appetite amongst colleagues for further training around cultural competency. We hope to be able to make progress on this very soon.

We know that our vulnerable migrant population (including refugees and asylum seekers) experience significant health inequalities, particularly with regards to access to healthcare. Organisationally, we are excited to be exploring the opportunity of becoming the first ’integrated care system of sanctuary’ ensuring that we consistently offer health services that are safe, welcoming, and accessible to all those seeking sanctuary. It’s the right thing to do.

We are currently expediting plans so that we can provide consistent and robust primary care services (including an initial, thorough health assessment) to those who are arriving and seeking sanctuary in West Yorkshire from other countries, including Afghanistan. Asylum seekers and refugees are amongst the highest risk categories for suicide in the UK and its therefore crucial that the mental health needs of this group of people are assessed and met.

Leeds Gate Image.jpgDid you know that, if you’re a member of the Gypsy, Roma, Traveller community, your life expectancy is, on average 10-12 years less than someone from the non-traveller population? This is exactly why we’re working with partner organisations, including the brilliant team at Leeds GATE (Gypsy and Traveller Exchange) to complete health needs assessment for our Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller community. We’ll evaluate these assessments and, in collaboration with members of the community, we’ll develop action plans to address the inequalities which are identified.

We’re also here to educate and up-skill,  and we’re so pleased to be working with the charity ‘Fairhealth’ to develop bespoke training for our clinical colleagues on the frontline, in primary, secondary care and mental health services, ensuring they’re appropriately equipped with the knowledge they need to play their part in identifying and tackling health inequalities.

Last summer, a total of 13 voluntary and community organisations were offered grant funding by the Partnership. Funds were used to support communities who had been disproportionately affected by Covid-19 and recipients varied from Dementia Friendly, Keighley to Inspired Neighbourhoods, Bradford to Open Country in Wakefield. We’re delighted to be hosting an event on 29 September to celebrate the successes of these phenomenal projects, delivered by communities, for communities.

I’m delighted to announce that this Autumn, the Partnership will be launching a recruitment campaign for our Health Equity Fellowship scheme. This mechanism will seek to provide Public Health Foundation Training to 30 Health Equity Fellows which they will undertake alongside the delivery of practical projects within their area of work. This will be open to all employees across the Partnership with an expectation that the successful applicants will dedicate one day per week to attend health equity training and work on a health equity project. We’re really keen to recruit a cohort which reflects the diversity of our workforce and our population, so please do watch this space for more details!

Whilst our team may be reasonably small, we have big ambitions for reducing health inequalities throughout West Yorkshire and Harrogate and beyond. If you’d like to know more about our work, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Thank you for reading and have a good weekend

Paula