The opportunities

All of this is relevant to community radio stations and their opportunities to engage in conversations around health and wellbeing by focussing on the following: (You might want to mess around with this a bit)

  1. By reaching people within their own homes
  2. By giving a voice to those with lived experience who often aren’t heard
  3. By sharing health messages in a different way
  4. By starting conversations locally
  5. By bringing together different groups of people to share their experiences on the radio

Suggestions:

  1. National:
  • Nesta/ Health Foundation. Both have regular innovation funding opportunities that could help explore this nationally
  • Make links with the national bodies listed in section 4. Action: Claire Tomkinson to make introductions where there are existing relationships
  • Contact NAVCA to find the Macc equivalents nationally. Connect with their policy/ health leads. Action: Radio Regen to make contacts

 

  1. Greater Manchester:
  • The Person and Community Centred Approaches Proposed Delivery Support Programme highlights this aim: “Development of a communications campaign to raise the profile of PCCA, promote the benefits and celebrate GM successes. Communications will aim to reach the systems leaders, health and care staff, as well as citizens, both locally and across GM utilising internal channels and networks, as well as social media to support conversations that are happening across the region to showcase local/ GM success”

Action: There is a clear opportunity here for community radio stations across GM to make an offer. Claire Tomkinson works closely with this team and can make introductions

  • PCCA Team. Communities of Practice. “Brings together PCCA leads across GM to share good practice, learn from each other and promote the spread of PCCA. The Community of Practice will build a movement of system leaders from across localities and provide peer support to those change agents, by providing them with a safe, constructive environment to get support, ideas and inspiration”

Action: Arrange to present community radio as a person and community centred approach at a future Community of Practice. Claire Tomkinson to make introductions

  • 10GM brings together the infrastructure organisations across Greater Manchester. The main partners are Macc- Manchester, Action Together- Oldham and Tameside, Bolton CVS and Salford CVS. Action: local community radio stations to make contact and discuss joint working and funding opportunities.

 

  1. Manchester:
  • Locality Plan. Action: Claire Tomkinson is meeting the Our Healthier Manchester Programme Director to discuss embedding person and community centred approaches within the Locality Plan Delivery Working Group. Will explore opportunities to involve community radio
  • Manchester Local Care Organisation Neighbourhood Approach. Action: Local community radio stations to attend Neighbourhood Partnerships and meet the GP Transformation Leads. Identify themes for discussion on local radio
  • Social Prescribing. Greater Manchester Mental Health run “Be Well” the social prescribing service in North Manchester. Big Life have just won the contract to deliver this in Central and South Manchester. Action: Local community radio stations to make links and explore opportunities to work together. This could be through providing volunteering opportunities, supporting people with long term health conditions to host a radio show and interview staff working on social prescribing and people being signposted to new services to talk about what is happening and why it is important
  • Community Explorers. Opportunity to meet local VCSE organisations and build relationships with Manchester Health and Care Commissioning. Action: local community radio stations to attend future meetings and have space on the agenda to discuss Health FM.
  • Single hospital service. Action: Claire Tomkinson is about to start a piece of work with the Manchester Foundation Trust Community Partnerships Manager to develop the relationship between hospitals, the VCSE sector and the wider community.

(There are lots of opportunities here. We could get the Integrated Discharge Manager or a Care Navigator on the radio with British Red Cross or local VCSE organisation talking about joint working and discharge, or a Geriatrician and a local older person talking about their experiences of being admitted to hospital)