Health Creation, Wealth Creation
The NHS can no longer afford to operate as an isolated service that sorts out people’s medical problems while largely ignoring the social factors that cause them to be ill. This ‘isolationist’ service model is now becoming overtaken by the sheer weight of dis-ease in our society (as oppose to disease) as increasing societal pressures, poverty and stress take their toll and health inequalities increase.
A modern, sustainable health service needs to re-envisage its role and relationships within a wider ‘health system’ that must include communities and focus on what it is that makes people well. Key to this is, how to ‘create health’.
Duncan Selbie, CEO of Public Health England, and a keynote speaker at the Health Creation Alliance 2017 Action Summit taking place on 6 December, often says that the biggest determinant in a person’s health is having a job. It’s no accident that we have chosen the theme of Health Creation: Wealth Creation – the power of people and communities for our annual Action Summit. And that we have a session on Creating Health through Work.
Health Creation Alliance is leading pioneering work in ‘what it is that makes people well’. It is forging ahead in defining how a health system – not just the medical service – that has wellness at its core might function.
Health Creation Alliance started earlier this year by explaining how health is created through the ground-breaking Manifesto for Health Creation. This includes perspectives from people and communities (who are also, of course, patients), codifying this in terms of the 3Cs of Health Creation (Control, Contact and Confidence) and demonstrating how the five features of health creating practices can be adopted by professionals to bring about real change: https://www.thehealthcreationalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/A-Manifesto-For-Health-Creation.pdf
We are now exploring how ‘wellness’ might translate and be taken-up into different parts of health and care services. We are doing this by bringing together NHS and non-NHS professionals with communities, and joining the dots together – we are a movement after all.
The Health Creation Alliance 2017 Action Summit is a pivotal moment in advancing the Health Creation movement. We want delegates from across the health and care systems to be there and play their all-important part. The Summit is specially designed to help us to collectively join the dots between poverty and a sustainable economy, via people-powered health. For the sceptics, we will also be looking at the economics of Health Creation. The summit will consider:
- Evidence of how poverty-related stress makes people ill
- Evidence that the 3Cs of Health Creation helps to mitigate the negative impact of poverty on health
- The links between the 3Cs, productivity and workforce wellness
- The roles of medicines in creating health
- Roles for health organisations in creating health and improving local economies
We will hear from British Red Cross about the hard lessons they learned from their work with the communities affected by the Grenfell tragedy; senior leads about how Health Creation can set a new standard in health and care; the perspective from the top, from Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, Secretary of State for Health.
The Summit´s best-in-class programme is brought together by an organisation that wants you to help shape your future as a health and care professional or community health creator.
We are confident that delegates will go home full of optimism that the health service can successfully reinvent itself by working alongside communities. Not only to improve people´s health, but also to improve their lives!
This could be the most exciting and uplifting conference you attend all year! ….. This is what Charles Alessi, Senior Advisor Public Health England says about our 2017 Action Summit:
“This Summit is hugely important in the journey the health sector needs to take – from a service to a system, from treating illness to creating health, from the biomedical to the biopsychosocial … whether you are in public health, primary care, a community or acute trust, local authority, housing, if you want to be part of the solution you need to be there.” Charles Alessi, Senior Advisor Public Health England
Click here for more details, a full agenda and to purchase your tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/health-creation-wealth-creation-the-power-of-people-and-communities-tickets-37726543106?aff=eac2
Here’s what delegates said about last year’s Action Summit
“Great inclusive atmosphere. Highlighted direction of travel / cultural shift that is happening”
“I found the whole day excellent”
“The entire day was inspirational and it was so good to meet with like-minded people”
“Got to be honest I enjoyed all of it”
“It was all worthwhile and I have taken a lot away from it”
“Sensing the change in the zeitgeist”
Merron Simpson – Chief Executive, Health Creation Alliance
