Eastern Arc Coastal Health Data Workshops

In 2021 the Chief Medical Officer looked at health in coastal communities, and suggested that the available data on health and wellbeing were poor. He recommended that this should be addressed.

Eastern Arc is taking the first steps towards doing this.

On 19 July and 21 July it will host two workshops at which stakeholders in NHS trusts, local authorities, charities and third sector organisations will be invited to discuss and identify the common and specific issues they face around data.

The workshops will take the format of ‘open space’ sandpits, as have been used recently by UEA (in consulting on its civic mission) and Essex (in identifying interdisciplinary projects). 

The events will be followed up by a survey over the summer. Evidence from these three initiatives will be collated and used as a basis for designing interventions in the autumn and winter.

The workshops are free and open to anyone with an interest in or responsibility for collecting, collating and using health data. Both events are the same; you can choose which of the two you want to attend. 

To register, click on the links below. Spaces are strictly limited, and will be available on a first come, first served basis.

• 19 July 10:00 – 16:00 – Innovation Centre, University of Essex
• 21 July 10:00 – 16:00 – Wivenhoe House Hotel, University of Essex

Background

The east and south-east coast of England is home to some of the most deprived communities in the country, which have been disproportionately affected by Covid (O’Dowd 2020). These include Great Yarmouth, Tendring (which includes the most deprived area in the country, Jaywick), Southend, and Thanet (Corfe 2017).

11 of the 100 ‘priority places’ identified by the government in its Community Renewal Fund are in our region; nine of them are coastal communities.

The House of Lords has recognised the challenges that have led to this situation, and concluded that it ‘warrants dedicated attention and support,’ a point echoed by the Chief Medical Officer in July this year when he set out the need for both a national policy and local action (Whitty 2021).

Photo by Ian Taylor on Unsplash