Economies for Healthier Lives

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Join the Community Panel

The aim of the Economies for Healthier Lives project is to develop a new tool to measure the impact that major housing and transport projects can have in improving health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities across the Glasgow City Region. 

A key partner in the project will be a Community Panel. It will work with health and other professionals from Public Health Scotland, Glasgow City Council and the Glasgow Centre for Population Health to develop the new tool.  

Frequently asked questions

What do we mean by major housing and transport projects? 

Updating houses to make them more energy efficient, warmer and less draughty (called ‘retro-fitting’) improves the quality of houses. But it can have other benefits - cutting fuel bills, tackling fuel poverty, cutting down on dampness and poor ventilation problems that cause health problems to name a few.  

Better public transport can help improve people’s access to work, friends and family across a wider geographic area. It can also help people get more easily to other facilities such as schools, colleges, parks, libraries and health care centres. All these things can help people’s general health and wellbeing. 

To help those who express an interest in joining the panel better understand the wider context, further information about the Glasgow City Region and the pilot projects will be provided at that stage. 

What is a Community Panel and what would it do?  

It’s important that people in communities get a chance to have their voice heard in decisions that affect them. A Community Panel is a way of bringing people together to share their lived experience and give their views and feedback to agencies over a period of time to help them plan and deliver projects and services. 

In this project the Panel will work with health and other professionals to help make this new tool improve the way big physical projects contribute to better health and wellbeing. 

The Panel will receive presentations/other materials from agency staff as ideas for the new Capital Health Impact Assessment Tool develop. It will be able to contribute to discussion, about these and offer comments and questions. It will also have an opportunity to explore issues separately and ask other questions it thinks important that may impact on the health and wellbeing of local communities. 

Who can join the panel?  

We want people with a diverse range of experience and backgrounds to join the panel, particularly people who are often seldom heard, for example lone parents, older people, people with a disability and people from Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities.  

Why would I want to get involved – what’s in it for me? 

 By helping develop this new tool the Panel will help influence how large sums of money are spent on physical/capital projects. Done differently, these can ensure that projects work more with local firms, create training opportunities and employ more local people.  

As a Panel member you will be able to expand your experience by learning how physical/capital projects are planned and delivered. You will also have the chance to develop your skills in working alongside different agencies and have the opportunity to receive support and training which may help you in other roles you play in your community. 

What do I need to join? 

 The panel will work on a virtual basis, so you will need to have access to a PC, laptop or other device to access meetings and also have a stable WI-Fi connection. If you don’t have these things in place we can discuss with you how best to access them. 

Ideally, you should also be involved in a local community organisation committee or its activities and have an interest in health inequalities and its effects on people and communities. 

As the project will run for up to three years, we ask that you make a commitment to participate for at least 9 months to help develop this new tool during the initial phase. 

What help or support will I get?  

We will help those who join the panel as best we can with any out-of-pocket expenses they have. We will also compensate people for the time they give to participate in formal panel meetings and discuss with individual members how best that can be arranged to suit their circumstances. 

How do I find out more or join the Panel? 

To find out more, they can contact Francesca Lynch Francesca@scdc.org.uk.

Register here

Economies for Healthier Lives

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About the Community Panel

By helping develop this new tool the Panel will help influence how large sums of money are spent on major construction projects. For example, done differently, these projects could work more closely with local firms, create training opportunities, or employ more local people. 

Individuals involved in the panel will be able to expand their experience by learning how these major construction projects are planned and delivered. They will also be able to develop their skills in working alongside different agencies and have the opportunity to receive support and training which may help them in other roles they play in their community. 

To help those who express an interest in joining the panel better understand the wider context, further information about the Glasgow City Region and the pilot projects will be provided at that stage. 

The make-up of the Community Panel: 

The panel will be made up of 12 - 15 individuals who are active in their community and who have experience of poverty and inequalities. The intention therefore is to bring together a mix of people in terms of gender, age, ethnicity and geography eg lone parents with young children, older people, women, people with disabilities, people from BAME communities, and people living in peripheral estates.  

What will the Panel actually do? 

The Panel will receive presentations/other materials from those partners involved in the project with ideas for how the new Capital Health Impact Assessment Tool could develop. Panel members will be able to contribute to discussion about these and offer comments and questions. They will also have an opportunity to explore issues separately and ask other questions it thinks important that may impact on the health and wellbeing of local communities. 

Support to the Community Panel: 

In the first instance SCDC will provide support to help the Panel decide on a ‘working together agreement’ which will help members to agree how often they will meet and how best to work together, identify any group/individual support needs and help members to understand the project in more detail.  

We will also arrange access to Project partners who will explain the project’s aims in more detail. The panel will also be able to access other training and support from Project partners.  

SCDC will also explore with the Panel how best it wants to contribute to/and or be represented at key Project groups, particularly the ‘Operational Group’ as well as the ‘Development Cohort’ who will develop and test the tool.

We will arrange for practical and financial support to be made available to cover things like care costs, and future travel costs to enable panel members to attend and participate in meetings. 

Commitment required from Panel Members: 

We expect that the Panel will meet digitally in the first phase of the project and therefore Panel members should have access to relevant IT equipment and stable internet access. 

The project will span three years but a minimum commitment of 9 months is needed to contribute to discussions about existing inequalities impact tools and how the panel can bring its lived experience to the tool development and testing process planned for later in the project. 

Join the panel

If they want to join the Panel, they can register initial interest here and we will let them know the outcome soon afterwards. 

To find out more, they can contact Francesca Lynch Francesca@scdc.org.uk.

Economies for Healthier Lives

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About the project

Millions of pounds are spent every year on projects to improve the places we live; including the roads we use daily, our homes, and those buildings that support our day to day needs, including community centres, sports facilities and hospitals. 

This often involves huge construction projects which by their nature have the potential to impact on our daily lives. These projects are often long-term, funding intensive, projects that add or build upon assets. We will be using two examples in this project focusing on major housing and transport projects. 

The project aims to co-produce a new tool to test out the health impacts that can be gained from these projects across the Glasgow City Region (GCR). The tool is called a Capital Health Inequalities Impact Assessment Tool (CHIIA).  

The strategic aim of the project is to enable such investments to maximise population health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities across the eight local authority areas that make up the Glasgow City Region. 

To support this project and ensure we take account of as many views as possible, a new community panel is being recruited and will play an important part in the development of the toolkit. It will work with health and other professionals from Public Health Scotland, Glasgow City Council and the Glasgow Centre for Population Health to develop the new tool.  

These organisations will be assisted by a number of specialist partners, one of which is the Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) whose role will be to create and support the Community Panel to play an effective and meaningful role in the development of the new tool. 

The community panel

The Community Panel will have valuable lived experience to contribute and be a key stakeholder in the development of the tool alongside subject matter experts (e.g. project managers and planners). It will draw its membership from representative groups and organisations who experience inequality and/or who are seldom heard. 

Community Panel members will come therefore from a range of groups and organisations across the city of Glasgow. They are likely already to be board/committee members, volunteers or participants in group activities and have an interest in health inequalities and how they can be addressed. 

The Community Panel will be part of a wider approach to public consultation that will include for example; interactive digital platforms, survey work and focused work to maximise engagement by the general public. 

In the longer term the Panel will explore how the new tool can be used with other community groups across the Glasgow City Region area. 

About the panel >

Join the panel >

To find out more, they can contact Francesca Lynch Francesca@scdc.org.uk.

If you’d like this information in another format, please get in touch and we can help.

This project is supported by the Health Foundation.