Blog posts
Trees: an overlooked healthcare ally
Trees save lives by providing significant health and wellbeing benefits. The NHS Forest project commits to planting 150,000 trees on sites in England between November 2023 and March 2025.
The NHS’s future workforce and Levelling up
Barts Health recognised the difficulties of attracting young people into the community employment programmes they run. Read about their work to ‘build stepping stones’ to get more local young people into work and apprenticeship schemes.
Insights from the HALN evaluation and Test and Learn programme
Working with SQW alongside NHS England, Innovation Unit and HALN participants, we’re excited to share the key findings from this evaluation, as well as some of the Health Foundation’s broader reflections from the first two years of delivery.
Anchoring Support for Neurodivergent Young Girls
The NHS has shown its potential to create positive change in many ways beyond healthcare provision, drawing upon its immense economic power to address unjust social determinants of health. As we celebrate 75 years, let us commemorate the NHS for its role in supporting us when we are sick, but also, in tackling the intricate web of social, economic and environmental factors that help us stay well.
Anchoring Communities for 75 years: celebrating the NHS
The NHS has shown its potential to create positive change in many ways beyond healthcare provision, drawing upon its immense economic power to address unjust social determinants of health. As we celebrate 75 years, let us commemorate the NHS for its role in supporting us when we are sick, but also, in tackling the intricate web of social, economic and environmental factors that help us stay well.
How strong is your anchor?
UCLPartners have launched a new resource to help Anchor Institutions to measure their activity and impact. ‘How Strong is your Anchor? A Measurement Toolkit for Health Anchors’, has been produced for NHS trusts and partners, and funded by The Health Foundation.
Health Justice Partnership blog 3/3: Hertfordshire Money Advice Unit’s Mental Health and Benefits Project
A case study showcasing a health justice partnership between Money Advice Unit at Hertfordshire Council and a Consultant Psychiatrist attached to the Public Health Service
Health Justice Partnership blog 2/3: Southwark Law Centre with Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals
A case study showcasing a health justice partnership between Southwark Law Centre and Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital, this blog post looks into a legal advocacy service for homeless patients.
Health Justice Partnerships and Anchor Action blog 1/3
An introduction to health justice partnerships and how they strengthen the actions of healthcare services against poverty and health inequality.
Workforce gaps and community needs: where the Venn diagram meets
Amongst health anchors, one theme comes up again and again: the desire to find ways to fill vacancies within the NHS workforce, and tackle local unemployment at the same time - recruiting local people into the health and care workforce. In particular, anchor leaders we are working with want to find routes into employment for groups who experience intersecting inequalities, and are most excluded from the labour market.
Social value in Procurement: Learning from East London NHS Foundation Trust
East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT) provides mental health, community health and primary care services to a population of nearly 2 million people in East London, Luton and Bedfordshire, serving some of the most deprived communities in the country. Based on research by The Health Foundation into practical ways in which NHS organisations can act as anchor organisations, a key part of ELFT’s Anchor programme is embedding social values into its procurement processes.
Two Years of Learning
The HALN team reflect on the insights generated about the health anchor landscape over the past two years, as HALN moves into its third year.
Behind the scenes at HALN - what have we achieved and what’s next?
The Health Foundation take a look back at two years of the Health Anchors Learning Network, exploring what has been achieved and what needs to happen next
Health Anchors in London and the London Living Wage
The rising cost of living is affecting millions of people across the UK. In recognition of the role the NHS can play in creating ‘good quality work’, NHS anchors in London are increasing their efforts to become London Living Wage employers. This blog outlines the work underway across London as part of Living Wage Week 2022.
Introducing and Implementing Sector Based Work Academy Programmes
Oli Fletcher, HALN member, Learning Set participant of Somerset Integrated Care System and Cody Hyland of Somerset NHS Foundation Trust share their experiences of running Sector Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs).
Tackling racial inequalities as a health anchor
More than two years after the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent Black Lives Matter movements across the globe, we continue to have important conversations about racial inequality - but how can anchor organisations translate this to meaningful action?
Q&A with Dr Bob Klaber: a blog from the Shelford Group
Dr Bob Klaber, Consultant Paediatrician and Director of Strategy, Research and Innovation at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (ICHT) talks about the work ICHT has undertaken as an anchor institution.
How can the NHS support the needs of those most excluded from society through its role as an anchor organisation?
The NHS has a unique opportunity to support the most socially excluded people in our society through its service provision and its role as an anchor institution. However more could be done to optimise the impact of its anchor role.