Welcome to the latest Health and wellbeing newsletter

The June voluntary sector health and wellbeing forum looked at research. There were presentations from Queen Mary University on the ways that community research can support your organisation to develop its coproduction and evaluation skills.

Pamela Menzies-Banton from Positive East Presented on the project Women4Women which aims to raise awareness of and increase the uptake of pre-exposure prophylaxis, known as PrEP, by women of black African descent.

Followed by a presentation on the new Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) by Emily Humphreys from Tower Hamlets Council Public Health. This is an exciting collaboration between Tower Hamlets, three universities (Queen Marys University, University of East London and London Metropolitan) and the voluntary sector. The vision is to make Tower Hamlets a ‘go to’ place in which to conduct high quality, collaborative, applied and impactful research on a range of health determinants and factors to reduce health inequalities.

The aim is to make decision-making across the borough more informed by the evidence, supported by a sustainable local research partnership.

There was an interesting discussion on:

• How the VCS can get involved and the cost implications especially for smaller VCS organisations
• The impact of short term and longitudinal studies
• The need to address the loaded nature of the term research
• How will this work affect the infrastructure particularly procurement
• What happens if the research says something different to what decision makers are doing
• How it will impact on policy
• How will this be made transparent
• How residents will get feedback - in a way that that residents feel listened too.
• The importance of coordination of different research

These were all very key questions that the programme will be discussing in the development of the programme with residents. 

We would like to encourage residents and groups to sign up to hear more about getting involved. 

Have your say on sexual and reproductive health priorities 

Improving your sexual and reproductive health is one of the key priorities cross local authorities in North East London. The Local Authorities of North East London (NEL) are in the process of a developing North East London (NEL) Strategy for Sexual and Reproductive Health.

Their vision is to: 'work collaboratively with residents and partners from across the spectrum of integrated sexual health in order to deliver high quality, easy-access and equitable provision across the whole of North East London, with the prevention of illness and the promotion of healthy relationships at the core of all activity.'

Completion of this short survey will help to establish whether the identified Sexual Health Priorities meet your needs. NHS NEL would appreciate your input and would like to hear your feedback.

This survey takes less than 5 minutes to complete. It is confidential and anonymous.NHS NEL will read every response and comment and make sure that the strategy is informed by your views. The survey will close on the 31st July!

Click here to take the survey.

Have you filled in our State of the Sector Survey?

There is still time to take part in the THCVS #StateOfTheSectorSurvey. We need your help to gather data to understand the pressures across the VCS in Tower Hamlets. The purpose of the survey is to:  

Understand the challenges and current issues in the sector
Address the situation by advocating to statutory partners and funders
Enable THCVS to respond with appropriate support
Results of the survey will be published on the THCVS website and in our news bulletin so that it can be used to advocate to strengthen the position of the sector. 
 
The survey is anonymous however you may enter the name of your organisation and email address if you want to be entered in our prize draw of three x £50.00 prizes for your organisation. If you would like to speak to someone about the survey please email jane.bell@thcvs.org.uk. Deadline 5 July

Click here to take the survey.

Exciting career development and funding opportunities for mental health staff and researchers

Deadline: Monday 7 August

NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) North Thames has opened 3 new funded opportunities: research internships, career development fellowships and springboard grants.

Anyone working in or with mental health services across the North Thames region can apply, including staff from NHS Trusts, local government, public health, social care or community care organisations, charities and the voluntary sector. They would particularly like to see applications from staff who are currently under-represented in research, including those working in East London and Essex, people from minoritised backgrounds, and those working in areas of mental health and social care with limited opportunities to engage in research. Find out more

Interventions that impact loneliness

Deadline: Tuesday 15 August

The Public Health Research (PHR) Programme wishes to commission research on interventions aimed at reducing loneliness. Although social isolation and loneliness often come together, they are conceptually and empirically distinct from each other. This call is primarily interested in intervention aimed at reducing loneliness. The PHR programme is predominantly interested in interventions that are likely to have impact on populations at scale, addressing health inequalities and the underlying wider determinants of health. Click here to find out more and apply.