How can healthcare organisations improve the living conditions of their local communities?

How can healthcare organisations improve the living conditions of their local communities? Findings from interviews with healthcare staff.

Quick-read summary

Healthcare organisations aren’t just places that treat people when they’re sick. They can also play a big role in supporting their local communities by helping improve the local economy, social connections, and overall well-being.

This study looked at how NHS Trusts can help make living conditions better for people in their areas.

We studied health care organisations in poorer areas of England from June to August 2023. We interviewed staff who were working on their organisation’s plan to support their local communities. We put the information together and we summarised it in a model that can be used as a guide for good practice by health care organisations.

We found four main ways healthcare organisations can make a positive difference in their local communities:

Jobs: They can create jobs for local people and help them build careers.
Spending: They can buy goods and services from local businesses.
Community Spaces: They can turn their buildings and spaces into useful areas for the community.
Sustainability: They can encourage local creativity and support environment friendly efforts.

These activities work best when there’s strong leadership and collaboration with local partners, and when they’re part of a larger plan to improve the health of the whole population. Healthcare organisations can help improve the lives of people in their communities, beyond just providing medical care. Policy and service leaders should support them to do this by focusing on jobs, spending, community spaces, and sustainability, which can help reduce health inequalities.

Who is this evidence useful for?

Our research is useful for health care decision makers and systems leaders, health care professionals, community leaders, local authorities leaders, people who are in involved in the voluntary and community sector.

What is the issue?

Healthcare organisations can play a big role in supporting the health and well-being of their local communities beyond offering medical care. They can help improve the local economy, social connections, and overall well-being. However, they need guidance on how to achieve this and make use of existing the opportunities.

Research summary

We studied closely four health care organisations in poorer areas of England.
We gathered information about their plan on improving the local economy, social connections, and overall well-being.
We discussed this information with employees working on their organisations plan, asked for more details and for their own views about what works well and what are the difficulties in achieving such a plan.
We put all the information together and created a model to guide healthcare organisations in their efforts to improve the wellbeing of their local communities.

What did the research find?

Healthcare organisations can make a positive difference in their local communities in four ways:

Jobs: They can create jobs for local people and help them build careers.
Spending: They can buy goods and services from local businesses.
Community Spaces: They can turn their buildings and spaces into useful areas for the community.
Sustainability: They can encourage local creativity and support environment friendly efforts.

These activities work best when there’s strong leadership and collaboration with local partners, and when they’re part of a larger plan to improve the health of the whole population.

Why is this important?

Our findings show how healthcare organisations can play a bigger role in improving their communities’ health and wellbeing, beyond just treating illnesses. They highlight ways to make better use of healthcare funds, jobs and assets to improve the living conditions that affect people’s health. This could lead to stronger, healthier communities.

How were people, community groups or patients involved in this work?

We worked with a diverse Public and Community Involvement and Engagement (PCIE) group from Greater Manchester. We recruited participants through a partnership with the National Institute for Health and Care Research and included a Young People Advisory Research group. Our PCIE group had five members with different experiences in healthcare and community work, mostly from ethnic minority backgrounds.

We held five online meetings during the study, where the group shared their thoughts on research questions, measuring activities, choosing case studies, developing interview topics, and reviewing findings. We also had one-on-one conversations through email or online meetings. All members of the PCIE group were paid for their time.

Recommendations for policy and practice

Decision makers should support strong partnerships between healthcare organisations and local communities.
They should support the purchase of affordable services from local providers.
They should adapt hiring practices to reach those most in need in their local areas.
Policymakers need to recognise that national regulations can make it harder for healthcare organisations to use their resources to benefit the local economy.
With support from national policymakers, healthcare organisations should develop their own ways to measure their success based on the key areas outlined in this study.
This requires involvement from senior leaders and a culture that promotes the social factors affecting health.
People with personal experience of disadvantage who are dedicated and motivated should be given the chance to help drive change in organisations.

What happens next?

We will share this work in academic and practitioner events and conferences.
We will explore ways to develop this work working with the national Health Inequalities Team in the NHS.
We will run a workshop with study participants to explore the development of this work and the production of outputs that would be useful for practitioners.

Get in touch about this work

Dr Anna Gkiouleka (lead author of the paper), [email protected]

Dr Luke Munford (project lead), [email protected]

Link to full paper – How can healthcare organisations improve the social determinants of health for their local communities? Findings from realist-informed case studies among secondary healthcare organisations in England. BMJ Open November 2024

This project is a collaboration between partners at: