Alongside our partners at Healthwatch Nottingham & Nottinghamshire (HWNN) and Nottingham Community Voluntary Service (NCVS), we were delighted to support the Community Roadshow at The Vine Community Centre on 30th April.
The event showcased the fantastic work happening across Nottingham’s health network and gave the opportunity for people to connect, share, and discuss opportunities for collaboration to improve health and wellbeing outcomes of people living in the city.
The day was opened by HWNN CEO, Sabrina Taylor, who spoke about the progress that has been made since the last roadshow and how Healthwatch is adapting its approach to community engagement. Sabrina highlighted their goal of connecting communities, and how they aim to empower local services through better representation.
Our Programme Director, Rich Brady spoke alongside Lucy Hubber (Director of Public Health for Nottingham City) about the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy (JHWS). They looked back at the progress made since the strategy launched in 2022 and celebrated the success of the four JHWS programmes.
However, they cautioned there is still much work still to be done and the focus on reducing health inequalities must be relentless. For example, while a lot of good work has been done in the Smoking & Tobacco Control and Eating & Moving for Good Health programmes, Nottingham still has very high smoking and obesity rates when compared to other parts of the country.
Nancy Cordy, Head of Public Health Strategy and Service Improvement then gave insight into early thinking for the next JHWS due to be published in March 2025. While there is a need to continue to be focused on the current priorities, Nancy talked about further opportunities around improving housing support and reducing alcohol use.
Despite these ongoing challenges, much optimism was shared about how the picture can be improved by working in partnership with services across the city. The launch of Thriving Nottingham service is a key milestone in improving the delivery of integrated health and wellbeing service in the city.
The day was wrapped up with a fascinating Q&A session with Rich, Sabrina, Sarah Collis (Chair of HWNN), Jules Sebelin (Nottingham City Voluntary Service), and Jan Sensier (Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust). We are already looking forward to the next roadshow and seeing how the new connections made at this year’s event have developed to help create a healthier Nottingham.
