Creating a North East Population Health Alliance
The Case for Change illustrates the reasons we cannot do more of the same. There is good evidence that investment in prevention is cost-effective, and the impact is most apparent when changes are implemented at scale. It can take time for benefits to be fully realised, and in the meantime, demand on health and care services continues to grow to meet people’s immediate needs, many of which are preventable. Breaking this cycle is fundamental to improving population health while reducing inequalities in health
Our health and wellbeing is shaped by a whole range of factors including, education, living and working conditions that are quite separate from health services. NHS Grampian cannot address this complex agenda on our own, no single agency can. We are fortunate to have strong partnerships with public agencies, private and third sectors and communities in the North East with many examples of good practice and innovation. However, compounded by the pandemic, some of the population health challenges we are grappling with are significant and in places worsening.
There is no single blueprint for a local population health approach. Learning and adapting from our experiences and that of others, leaders in the Northeast of Scotland, with support of the Director of Public Health, are looking at how we can create a system of learning across and within our partnership arrangements to reverse current trends.
This North East Population Health Alliance is a forum where the North East leaders are exploring our challenges together, testing solutions, and ensuring that ‘what works’ is implemented at scale and at pace. Based on our vision ‘to have flourishing communities, living fulfilled lives’ we are building a shared picture of need, creating opportunities to learn together, and finding new ways forward to ensure better outcomes for the populations that we serve.
The North East Population Health Alliance has adopted the King’s Fund four pillars to guide our conversations and collective action to turn the tide on widening health inequalities.
Figure 1: King's Fund Model of Population Health
In 2023 a strategic partnership agreement formalised this collaboration between nine North East partners (NHS Grampian, Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeen City Health & Social Care Partnership, Aberdeenshire Council, Aberdeenshire Health & Social Care Partnership, Moray Council, Health & Social Care Moray, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, and Police Scotland) alongside Public Health Scotland.
Activity in the last year has focussed on developing a learning system to facilitate collective knowledge through shared data and evidence. To date key areas the Alliance has focussed on include Stigma associated with substance misuse, place and wellbeing- strengthening social prescribing, evidenced based action to mitigate against the rising cost of living, development of the wider public health workforce and adopting a whole system approach to healthy weight and active living.
Additional Reading
