Will Warburton, Shelford Group Managing Director, and Katie Badcock, Policy Fellow, discuss the vital role NHS Trusts have to play as anchor institutions in their local communities…
How do hospitals improve our health? An instinctive response might be to consider the life-saving treatment they provide, ranging from the provision of urgent and emergency care through to the diagnosis and management of chronic conditions. But as well as their core mission of delivering safe and effective healthcare to patients, many NHS hospital trusts, including the ten research and teaching hospitals that make up the Shelford Group, are taking a broader view of the role they play in improving the health and wellbeing of their local populations.
A central way that the Shelford Group trusts are approaching this mission is in their role in ‘Anchor Collaborations’ – so called because of the organisational size and long-term presence of hospitals and public sector partners, such as local authorities, within the communities they serve. In this role, trusts set out to optimise the wider ways they support the health of their local populations; for example, as providers of high-quality employment, as conscious purchasers, and through consideration of their environmental impact – all with a particular focus on reducing health inequalities. Read more about work currently happening in Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
Collectively, our trusts provide employment to over 150,000 people, make decisions on purchasing goods and services that support businesses and employment throughout the healthcare supply chain, as well as on the design of services and hospital estates, and undertake work to radically reduce their carbon footprint in line with net zero goals. Our trusts do all this in collaboration with local authority, industry, voluntary sector, and healthcare partners to improve health in our local communities.
That’s why our role as anchors lies at the heart of our refreshed strategy ‘Improving Health Outcomes for All’, which was launched in October 2021. Forming both a cross-cutting theme as well as a standalone chapter, the Group has made a commitment to work collaboratively at local, regional, and national levels with partner organisations to make effective progress in addressing health and wider inequalities and improving the economic prospects and wellbeing of our patient populations, local communities, and staff.
In the coming months, we will publish blogs, case studies and Q and As with members featuring collaborations that Shelford trusts are undertaking to further the anchor mission, of which this is the first. We begin with a series of case studies showcasing some of the work that our member trusts are undertaking as part of their anchor roles and in addressing wider Levelling Up ambitions.
As the Shelford Group continues its work on this agenda, we are keen to collaborate with partners and you can get in touch via info@shelfordgroup.org