Bristol city region case study in University Alliance Building Healthy Cities report

The Bristol city region, including Bristol Health Partners and the West of England Academic Health Science Network, are highlighted in a new University Alliance research report, exploring the role universities play in local health ecosystems. The report says that Bristol makes for an interesting case study because it harbours significant health inequalities that local institutions are working hard to address.

The report finds that universities
have a unique role to play in making health and wellbeing provision more
efficient and responsive to local populations, so people can lead happy,
healthy lives. The
study, Building healthy cities: The role of universities in the health ecosystem is the first of its kind examining
the ways in which universities as anchor institutions relate to regional health
ecosystems. It argues they are uniquely placed to integrate the complex web of
organisations that make up a local health economy.

Reflecting on
both the financial pressures facing the NHS and the government’s agenda of
devolving more powers and budgets to city regions, University Alliance examined
local practice in Bristol as a model for how different bodies and agencies can
work together to deliver better outcomes and make a real difference to
those living in the community. This comes after a recent report by the
Communities and Local Government Select Committee which highlighted the need for
a clearer articulation on how health devolution can work in local settings.

Building
healthy cities outlines the increasing contribution
universities are making to building healthier cities and regions and tackling
public health challenges through research-informed policy and practice in areas
such as built environment, planning and community health.

A key element
of this contribution is the role universities have
in training and educating the health workforce of the future. Following
extensive reforms announced in the 2015 Spending Review to remove the
student numbers cap in nursing, midwifery and allied health education in
England, the report recommends that ministers must ensure there continues to be
adequate workforce planning, so universities can continue to recruit
effectively to reflect forecast needs.

The report
also urges the government to monitor the impact of its plan to move non-medical
students off NHS grants and onto the student loan system, and intervene in
future if necessary. It warns that, given nursing students are often mature
entrants or from disadvantaged backgrounds, many could be put off applying by
the prospect of loan debt and a less diverse applicant pool would undermine the
government’s widening participation targets. At the same time, the high
standards of admission for nurses and allied health professionals must be
upheld.

The report is
the first in a series of University Alliance publications this year, focusing
on the leadership role of universities as anchor institutions in cities and
regions, working within wider ecosystems and responding to common real-world
challenges in an enterprising, innovative and creative way.

Commenting,
University Alliance Chief Executive Maddalaine Ansell said:

“University
Alliance universities are committed to their cities and regions. This
makes us essential partners for decision makers as powers and
budgets are increasingly devolved down.

“One area
where universities can make the difference is in building healthy cities – by training
the health workforce, helping to co-ordinate agencies regionally and
contributing to better outcomes through research.

“Devolution
to the English regions presents a huge opportunity for agencies to work
together to overcome local challenges – but national policy will still
matter. In the case of healthcare, it is essential that the Government
carefully monitors the impact of its recent changes to funding student nurses
and other health professionals.”

Case studies
highlighted by the report include:

• Bristol
  Health Partners, a strategic partnership which brings together universities,
  NHS trusts, commissioning groups and City authorities, to ensure local
  priorities reflect local needs, in a way that a more distant funding body with
  its own agenda could not, including a focus on specific challenges such as
  dementia and self-harm.
• UWE Bristol’s
  World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Healthy Urban Environments,
  which promotes evidence-based policy and practice to develop healthy neighbourhoods,
  working with local authorities and business to integrate health and wellbeing
  considerations into decision making.
• The
  West of England Academic Health Science Network: Chaired by the Vice Chancellor
  of UWE, the network has mapped out the region’s health and life sciences sector
  and brought academics, health practitioners, the life sciences sector,
  NHS bodies and the public together to improve patient care and outcomes.