A series of sessions were delivered by Ruth du Plessis, Director of Public Health for St Helens, and Dr Elizabeth Crabtree, Director of the Beyond Children and Young People Transformation Programme at the recent HSJ Reducing Health Inequalities Forum in Birmingham.
The interactive discussions were focused on ‘driving action in the NHS 10-year plan to combat health inequalities for children and young people’, following last year’s publication of the Collaborative’s independent report on child and family poverty in the subregion.
Specifically, colleagues were engaged on exploring how poverty and inequalities affect children and families, and how the opportunity of the 10 Year Plan can be grasped to change this.
Key questions addressed included what opportunities could be considered to ensure the needs and voices of children and young people are front and centre of the 10 year plan, along with which elements of our ‘Framework for Action’ should be prioritised, including maximising household income, easier access to benefits and funded childcare.
Delegates also heard a keynote address from UCL Institute of Health Equity’s Prof. Sir Michael Marmot, who commended the All Together Fairer report and Programme during his speech as an example of a local area taking action on inequalities.
Following the event, Ruth spoke of the success in delivering the sessions and the importance of cross-sector engagement on the challenges of tackling health inequalities:
“It was fantastic to represent Cheshire and Merseyside and highlight our important work tackling health inequalities on a national stage.
“It can’t be stressed enough the vital importance of colleagues coming together and providing different experiences and skillsets to tackle the fundamental issue of Child and Family Poverty.”
“Explaining this work in more detail proved highly productive and hearing from delegates on which priorities require the most focus and how the NHS-10 Year Plan can ensure the voices of children and young people are being included.”
Dr Crabtree added:
“I found the group discussion format highly useful to share experiences and answer key questions around combatting health inequalities for children and young people.
“It’s important that we keep working with our partners, including public health, the NHS and Voluntary sector with events like these to work towards meaningful change.
“I am particularly pleased that we were able to focus some of our discussion on how we can ensure the voices of children and young people are being listened to when we develop these plans, so that our system works for them and their needs.”
