At the start of July, eight members of the Cheshire and Merseyside All Together Fairer Leads group attended the prestigious University College London Social Determinants of Health Summer School. The weeklong Summer School provided an in-depth assessment of the social determinants of health from a global research, policy and governance perspective.
Professor Sir Michael Marmot, Professor of Epidemiology at University College London, and Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity, opened the Summer School with a presentation on the social determinants of health and closed with a discussion on national and international policy development.
The group heard a range of lectures delivered by experts on a broad range of topics including gender equality, ethnicity and discrimination, work and health, and health governance.
Cheshire and Merseyside attendees took great value from the summer school, noting how useful it was to have dedicated time to network and think critically about the wider determinants of health and ethical considerations. They found the discussions on gender, race and disability particularly useful and inspiring.
Building on this enthusiasm, the All Together Fairer Leads Group will continue to work collaboratively to meet the place-based recommendations from the All Together Fairer report, with an increased focused on conserving time to meet face-to-face.
Places on the Summer School were provided to the All Together Fairer Local Authority leads as part of All Together Inspired – the All Together Fairer leadership and development programme which aims to build the capability of system leaders to transform how communities and organisations function to address the social determinants of health and reduce inequalities to improve health. The next element of All Together Inspired will be the development of the online Learning Hub which will offer a space for anyone in the subregion to share resources, network and learn more about the social determinants of health.
For more information about the All Together Fairer programme, please see the Collaborative’s All Together Fairer page or contact champscommunication@wirral.gov.uk.