Members of the first learning group taking part in the Equity in Health ‘Leadership for the Common Good’ series met for the first time on Tuesday 13 September at Clifton House, Belfast.

Attended by 25 participants from a variety of statutory, voluntary and community organisations including Public Health Agency, Belfast City Council, Cruse Bereavement Care and Arts & Disability Forum, the programme was facilitated by Irene Hewitt - an independent consultant specialising in leadership and organisation development. The session explored the context for inter-organisational and inter-group leadership to develop a collective understanding of some common good.

The masterclass was very well received and comments from participants included

‘…extremely useful in the format chosen and content delivered on’ and ‘Very thought provoking… Excellent’.

Read about learning group 2

View the Equity in Health- Leadership for the Common Good information brochure

Read more about Belfast Healthy Cities past capacity building activities.

Acting on climate change can tackle health inequalities in Northern Ireland

The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that ‘climate change will be the defining issue for health systems in the 21st century.  Health professionals have the knowledge, cultural authority and responsibility to protect health from climate change’.

In response to the WHO call for action, Belfast Healthy Cities in partnership with Department for Health, Social Services and Public Safety established a regional intersectoral Climate Change and Health Group in November 2009.  The aim of this group is to identify and address the health and health equity impacts of climate change.

The Shaping Healthier Neighbourhoods project has now concluded its practical phase. To mark this, trees are being planted in each of the participating schools with the children who contributed their views. Councillor Niall Ó Donnghaile, Mayor of Belfast, took part in the tree planting at St Oliver Plunkett Primary School in June 2011.

This project worked with 9-11 year old children in the Lenadoon and Suffolk areas of west Belfast, to give them an opportunity to think about how their environment affects them. The children took photos of the environment around their school, to show what they see and think about it, in particular about the streets, green spaces and play opportunities.

The photos were used to develop scrapbooks, collages and electronic presentations that gave the children an opportunity to express and show what a good environment would look like to them. Photos and findings will be collated into a report that will be published in the autumn, with a view to highlighting children’s views and seeking ways in which children can be more effectively heard in planning and decision making around the built environment.

Date: 20 October 2010

Venue: Clifton House, Belfast

This lecture looked at how effectively funding for health is transformed into improved health outcomes. Dr Peter Brambleby, joint Director of Public Health for NHS Croydon and London Borough of Croydon, first gave an analysis of how traditional health care budgeting works, and its potential problems. The lecture focused on introducing programme budgeting, which involves establishing programmes of care with detailed budgets for each, which incorporate spending across provision. A key advantage of this is that budgeting is easier to monitor and needs of all population groups can be incorporated.

Mr John Compton provided an overview of commissioning in Northern Ireland and future challenges related to the economy and demographics.

Date: 29 September 2010

Venue: Malone House, Belfast

This event introduced participants to the need to focus more on citizen driven solutions to social problems and how adapting a social marketing mindset can help deliver more effective and efficient programmes.

Professor Jeff French is a recognised global leader in the application of behaviour change and social marketing. He has over thirty years experience at the interface between government, public, private and NGO sectors and has a broad practical and theoretical understanding of national and international health and social development issues.

His presentation covered the eight key concepts of social marketing contained in the NMSC national benchmark criteria and how they can be used to develop and commission effective health development programmes aimed at reducing health inequality. Professor French also facilitated a workshop which used social marketing principles to improve the impact of public sector efforts to improve the life and life chances of under fives.

Date: 23 June 2010

Venue: Clifton House, Belfast

Engaging with people and communities is essential to achieve policies and actions that strengthen equity in health in a sustainable way. While the importance of engagement is now often recognised, it is often difficult to assess what works most effectively. This lecture explored what constitutes effective engagement, how it can be done and how it can be measured.

Barbara McCabe (0.18MB) from Queen’s University of Belfast introduced different elements and types of community engagement and emphasised the importance of choosing appropriate methods.

Joanne Morgan (0.18MB) from Community Development and Health Network presented two tools developed by the Network, the Engagement  Toolkit for Commissioners and Community Development Performance Management Framework and gave examples of how the tools can be used across sectors.

Norman Morrow (2.24MB), Chief Pharmaceutical Officer at the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety outlined how the successful Building the Community-Pharmacy Partnership project has contributed to tackling inequalities in health.

Michelle Tennyson and Martin Quinn (3.78MB) from the Public Health Agency completed the day by presenting the Personal and Public Involvement approach and how its effectiveness has been measured.

Date: 12 May 2010

Venue: Belfast City Hall

This was an important topic and a useful event"

Community planning is an opportunity to ensure health improvement and health equity is embedded within local government actions. This lecture examined tools that will enhance organisations' capacity to deliver on this agenda, and also provided practical examples of how health outcomes have been integrated into community planning.

Councillor Stephen Nicholl (0.27MB),  from Antrim Borough Council gave his view on the opportunities and challenges that introducing community planning will bring.

Della Thomas (0.23MB), NHS Health Scotland, outlined the health outcomes of community planning in Scotland

Beverlea Frowen (0.76MB), Welsh Local Government Association, outlined her experiences of integrating health into community planning

Sharon McNicholl (0.26MB), Belfast City Council, presented preparations for community planning in Belfast

Date: 28 April 2010

Venue: Clifton House, Belfast

" I like this format for taking time out to look at the bigger picture"

This lecture explored the role of intersectoral action in tackling inequalities in health. Participants heard success stories from Norway and a number of 'Readiness tools' were presented to help organisations plan local commissioning priorities and assess the effectiveness of inter agency partnership working.

Eddie Rooney (0.46MB), Chief Executive of the Public Health Agency outlined joint working arrangements for Northern Ireland, and the opportunities and challenges through intersectoral action.

Tone Torgersen (0.72MB), Senior Advisor with the Norwegian Directorate of Health and Social Affairs, presented the Norwegian experience of developing a strategy for tackling inequalities in health, which was based on intersectoral action on the wider determinants of health.

Janet Crampton (0.54MB), National Programme Manager for the Department of Health Care Networks, discussed issues relating to partnership working.