Blogs from Merron Simpson

To improve population health and wellbeing, reduce health inequity and inequalities and deliver sustainable change, creating health must sit alongside treatment of illness and prevention of ill health. This requires widespread adoption of new ways of thinking and working, underpinned by cross- sector collaboration, place-based working and community connecting and strengthening. And, it starts with listening and responding to the voice of people with lived-experience of poor health outcomes.

Health Creation is a proven approach to creating the conditions for people and places to thrive. The NHS and social care systems can’t meet all the needs of their communities. The pandemic showed that when people and communities self-organise around an issue that is important to them they can make a real difference to their and their communities health and wellbeing.

Health Creation works best when local people and professionals work together as equal partners and focus on what matters to people and their communities.

Health Creation is everyone’s job. It requires a commitment to truth-telling, to identifying and building people’s and communities’ strengths, to creating energy through connecting people and to sharing power.

Health Creation is not new, and while there are pockets of good health creating practice, a range of language is used to describe it including ‘person and community-focused’, ‘community-led’,  ‘asset-based’, ‘relationship-based’. Particular community-based roles to build community action and infrastructure include community organising and community development.