Representatives of ARC NWC member organisations, theme staff, public advisors and academic colleagues came together to successfully collaborate and participate in active discussions, question and answer panel sessions and networked at the latest quarterly ARCFEST, held at the Florrie on the 21st of June. It was the inaugural hybrid-format ARCFEST and the topics for the day were ‘Social Care research projects’ and ‘Plans and Possibilities to grow the ARC NWC portfolio’, with an update also provided on progress against the collaboration’s short and longer term objectives.

62 staff, 97 representatives from 25 member organisations and 34 public advisors either registered online or attended in-person, making it the second largest number of attendees to engage in a single event within the collaboration, since its launch in Blackpool in 2019.

The day started with a warm welcome from ARC NWC Director, Professor Mark Gabbay, followed by presentations featuring a selection of the collaboration’s work on social care.

These were provided from the Health across the Life Course (HaCAL) theme , Improving Population Health and IMPaCT themes, who presented research which considered the impact of an integrated care intervention on mortality and unplanned hospital admissions in a disadvantaged community in England, The Impact of COVID-19 related social support service closures on people with dementia and unpaid carers and Oral Care in Care Home care.

The themes rounded up their session with a question and answer panel consisting of ARC NWC Director Professor Mark Gabbay, Implementation Lead for ARC NWC, Professor Dame Caroline Watkins, John Hughes (Director of Partnerships and Communities at Community Integrated Care) and Senior Research Fellow Dr Clarissa Giebel.

Highlights from the day included Dr Selina Wallis’ question-and-answer panel during a public involvement segment which included discussion on the importance co-production and utilising public advisors in a community setting to recruit participants for research, making an impact on neighbourhoods and reducing heath inequalities. An inclusive stretch session with public advisor Naheed Tahir got everyone moving but also encouraged positive thinking and focused on collaboration to make a positive difference.

Public Advisor Gerry Allan from ARC NWC’s MIDAS theme seamlessly guided the audience through presentations from MIDAS, IMPaCT and CHI before the chance of a networking lunch and an opportunity to explore the venue.

Another high point of the day included Professor Ben Barr from ARC NWC’s Improving Population Health theme updating attendees on the implementation of the System P project. System P is the whole system approach to addressing multiagency, multisector challenges that negatively impact population health and will deliver transformational change in service provision through collaborative working. Professor Barr then chaired a questioned an interactive and informative panel session consisting of representatives from organisations and ARC NWC public advisor Paul Moran.

The Florence Institute for Boys or ‘The Florrie’ venue, used by ARC NWC, was built in 1889 by local philanthropist, Magistrate and Mayor of Liverpool, Bernard Hall and is a magnificent Grade II listed building which sits in the Toxteth community. It acts as a community hub for gatherings, events, activities) many of which include a social prescribing element) and also serves as a foodbank.

Richard Holford, consultant in public health at Knowsley Council said, “We are reconnecting and re-engaging with ARC NWC following the pandemic it has been challenging to get meet other parts of the collaboration but it is great to be back person to person.”

(Image left to right) Paul Moran, Public Advisor deputy Co-Lead for Health & Care Across the Lifecourse, Jo Hunt Lead midwife for Health and Inequities for Cheshire and Merseyside LMS, Carmel Doyle Lead midwife for maternal mental health at LMNS Cheshire and Merseyside ,Bryony Kendall named safeguarding GP for Liverpool and Sefton and Primary care lead for maternity disparity taskforce, Michael Galbriath clinical psychologist and family relationship parent baby relationship service.

Person Centred Complex Care theme lead, Professor Tony Marson, a consultant neurologist and epileptologist at The Walton Centre and Professor of Neurology, led us through a very insightful workshop where participants worked in groups to discuss gaps in knowledge in digital healthcare and how these breaks in continuity could be addressed.

Finally, the IMPaCT theme delivered a talk about Building Capacity in Mental Health Research and Implementation and the current research opportunities and benefits of Mental Health Fellowships and Internships. The opportunities can be found below and close on the 11th of July.
• Mental Health Early Career Researcher Development Fellowships
• NIHR ARC NWC Research Internships 2022

Running in parallel with this talk was a workshop on Critically Evaluating Statistics examples from Health Inequalities Research, which provided a very useful insight into how statistics focusing on health inequalities can be both misinterpreted and misrepresented by media outlets and others.

Thank you to everyone who joined us both virtually and in person and we hope to see you at the next ARCFEST in Kendal on the 14th / 15th of September. Registration details to follow.

You can catch up or revisit the sessions you have missed on our YouTube Channel.