Leeds Health and Wellbeing Board brings together groups for a valuable development session: We start with people

On 18th February the Health and Wellbeing Board along with the People’s Voices Group, Communities of Interest Network and Leeds Solidarity Network held an inspiring development session: We start with people

This session was the fourth development session held by the Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) – they hold a development session at the start of each year as part of their commitment to continuous improvement.

In the previous session the Board committed to “‘Making the Leeds Health and Wellbeing Board Brilliant’ going beyond being national exemplar, but innovating how we work as a Board.”

The Board has a bold ambition: Leeds will be the best city for Health and Wellbeing

The Board has a clear vision: Leeds will be a healthy and caring city for all ages, where people who are the poorest improve their health the fastest.

Key to achieving this is partnership working, co-production, and through people coming together; sharing power, resources and responsibility, to bring about collaborative change so that inequalities are not inadvertently repeated.

“If we really started with people as a Board, what would you want this to look like?”

In preparation for this session, the board asked participants to think about the question above and sent round background information about each of the groups involved, and what the session exercises would be – enabling people to come prepared and have really rich and valuable discussions.

View the document shared in preparation: HWB Development Session (18 Feb) – Agenda & Background Information

Overview of the Agenda:

1. Welcome and Introductions – Cllr Venner
2. Setting the scene – Overview of the Board,’s journey so far, how people’s voices have been at the centre of the COVID-19 response and the context going forward in light of the legislative proposals for a Health and Care Bill – facilitated by Tony Cooke and Hannah Davies.
3. Leeds Solidarity Network: Representation and Relationships – Overview of the Leeds Solidarity Network and the Healthy Communities Together Programme created by the Kins Fund – facilitated by the Leeds Solidarity Network
4. What are the practical actions we need to get to where we want to be? – facilitated by Hannah Davies and Pip Goff
5. Summary and close (Cllr Venner)

A highlight was Ellie Rogers talking about the Healthy Communities Together Programme which the Leeds Solidarity Network is leading on. The Healthy Communities Together Programme has been established by The King’s Fund and The National Lottery Community Fund to support partnership working to improve the health of their community, and is an exciting opportunity for Leeds in 2021.

View the session presentation: HWB Development Session (18 Feb) – Presentation

“Thank you so much for all the preparation and information sharing in advance of the session today, it was really helpful. Thank you also for the opportunity to be involved in the meeting. I thoroughly enjoyed the meeting and felt it was a great opportunity to learn, participate, understand and contribute towards the aspirations of the board.

I think the effort across Leeds is fantastic and whilst it’s a very challenging time, particularly for charitable organisations – it’s great to feel ‘part of something’ which is exciting and challenging.”

Charis Green, Chief Officer, Leeds Society for Deaf and Blind People

Overall the session proved to be full of insights, shared aspiration and inspiration. Those that attended found this as a valuable engagement and part of the journey towards developing more people and community led ways of working and decision making.