In 2022, Blackpool was one of 13 Local Authorities who were awarded funding by the National Institute for Health & Care Research to develop Health Determinants Research Collaborations. While Blackpool has rooted its model in co-producing research, all HDRC’s share a common objective in striving to support local authorities to become more research active and in doing so enable leaders to have better access to relevant evidence and research to support decision making regarding the wider determinants of health.

Blackpool HDRC also aims at increasing participation in research including accessing research funding to address the current gap in research regarding the wider determinants of health and what can be done to address the associated health inequalities. After a year of building the team and developing our model, we felt it was time to assemble colleagues from across the partnership and community members to share our progress and learning along the way we have made. On Wednesday 22nd November, we held our first annual learning event at the home of Blackpool Football Club, Bloomfield Road. Members of the HDRC team were joined by a range of stakeholders to share their reflections on our first year and to think about priorities for the next 12 months. We had three workshops focused on:
1) The importance of language and health inequalities
2) The Blackpool HDRC dissemination plan
3) Community engagement.
These three go together to ensure that our outputs are presented in a culturally sensitive, and accessible format through the right channels to maximise impacts.

Key learning from the workshops:
• It is important that we treat our dissemination plan as a living document and continue to reflect and develop it as we progress.
• Continued reflection on the challenging nature of co-production and co-research is crucial for success and we must maintain a commitment to positive working relationships that are based on honesty and transparency, especially when new challenges emerge.
• gained some specific ideas about how to better communicate the concepts of health inequalities and wider determinants, that need further coproduction with Blackpool residents

Here are some thoughts shared by our attendees: –
– “The Annual Learning Event reassured me that I am not the only one with passion and heart in what I do.”
– “It was a great collaborative event which emphasised the culture that is being developed across the town with all aspects of the community & services.”
– “The Annual Learning Event has made me appreciate the need to involve people who experience the inequalities in our research.”

With year two already in full swing and the finalisation of many aspects of our model, we look forward to utilising future Annual Learning Events to pause and reflect on our work and share learning. The learning events are scheduled to take place on an annual basis, and we look forward to seeing some of you next year.

So how can you hear more about the work of Blackpool HDRC? You can get in touch with our email address HDRC@blackpool.gov.uk or find us on our social media channel
X: @BlackpoolHDRC

Website: Health Inequalities Research Project (blackpool.gov.uk)

Authors of this blog: Reuben Larbi (Lancaster University and Blackpool HDRC), Amelia Simpson (Lancaster University and Blackpool HDRC), Sam Richardson (Blackpool HDRC)