Across the North East’s most deprived communities, alarming trends are accelerating: residents face increasingly premature deaths and longer periods living with poor health. These widening health inequalities reflect the absence of fundamental conditions necessary for human flourishing, i.e. stable, well-paid employment, quality education, and decent housing.
To counter this growing divide in regional health inequalities, Northumberland County Partnership was set up to reduce the gap in experiences residents have across health, education, employment and social outcomes, by tackling inequalities.
The mission of the Partnership is to ensure people have fair access to the building blocks for a good life such as a decent income, a good quality job, safe, affordable and warm housing as well as good quality education and training opportunities.
Working with the Institute of Health Equity (IHE) for two years, from April 2024 to April 2026, the Partnership will take a collaborative and evidence driven approach to tackling inequalities. This is complemented by Northumberland Experiences, an innovative qualitative research initiative designed to create a comprehensive record of life in Northumberland, with a specific focus on health inequalities. Through community-based participatory research methodology, this ambitious longitudinal project aims to capture the lived experiences of residents across the county, building a valuable resource that bridges community experiences with policy development.
This panel will explore the work of the Partnership and draw out lessons that will be useful for public health researchers. What are the implications for others doing similar work? This includes both policymakers looking to build programmes of work around reducing health inequalities, and health researchers looking to link research to policy.
Panellists:
Elizabeth Castle, Service Manager, NIHR Health Determinants Research Collaboration Newcastle, Newcastle City Council
Jill Davison, Head of Policy and Performance, Northumberland County Council
Jill Harland, Public Health Consultant and Health Inequalities Lead, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Karen McCabe, Senior Public Health Manager (Inequalities), Northumberland County Council
Chairs:
Pete Bower, Professor of Health Services Research at University of Manchester and Deputy Chair HSR UK
Lynn Laidlaw, HSR UK Trustee, Public Contributor and Local Resident