Swimming Upstream:
Inter-Professional Learning provides the key
in tackling the spatial determinants of health
Colin Thunhurst PhD
Patricia Bond PhD
Rachel Richards PhD
Outline
• West Midlands Health & Wellbeing Strategy
• Mapping the relationship with the Regional
Spatial Strategy
• Inter-sectoral Action requires InterProfessional Learning
• Opportunities for Inter-Professional Learning
• Beyond Learning to Action – organisational
implications
Acknowledgements
• In this presentation we will be drawing upon
work that we have undertaken for the DoH
West Midlands on behalf of the West
Midlands Teaching Public Health Network
• Thanks to Rowena Clayton (DoHWM), Ginder
Narle (WMTPHN), Cathleen Manancourt
(WMTPHN) and other colleagues in WMTPHN
West Midlands Teaching Public
Health Network
West Midlands Teaching Public
Health Network
Our Vision
To increase the standard, range and availability of public health
training in the West Midlands, in order to improve the health of the
region’s population
The National Lead on:
Inter-professional learning (IPL) in public health
Engaging partners
Ethnic minority health
West Midlands Health and Wellbeing Strategy
adopts an upstream model
Health analysed through underlying determinants
rather than ‘priority issues’
•
•
•
•
•
•
Planning Transport and Health
Housing and Health
Environment and Health
Economy Skills and Health
Culture Leisure and Health
Safer and Stronger Communities
Mapping and Aligning Policies at the
Respective Levels
Objectives of the West Midlands Regional Spatial Strategy
(WMRSS) and the West Midlands Health & Well-being Strategy
(WMH&WS)
Health Inequalities
WMH&WS
Planning
Transport &
Health
Housing &
Health
Environment
& Health
Economy
Skills &
Health
Culture
Leisure &
Health
Safer and
Stronger
Communities
Social Inclusion
Demographic
Change
Mental Health
Communities for the
Future
WMRSS
Urban Renaissance
Rural Renaissance
Diversifying and
Modernising the
Economy
Modernising the
Transport
Infrastructure
Prosperity for All
Quality of the
Environment
Accessibility
Mapping the Objectives of the West Midlands Regional Spatial Strategy
(WMRSS) and the West Midlands Health & Well-being Strategy
(WMH&WS) at the macro level
Cross-cutting
Themes
Health Inequalities
WMH&WS
Children Young People and Families
Planning
Transport &
Health
Housing &
Health
Environment
& Health
Economy
Skills &
Health
Culture
Leisure &
Health
Safer and
Stronger
Communities
Later Life
+/+/-
Social Inclusion
Demographic
Change
Mental Health
+/-
+
+
+/Cross-cutting
Themes
Communities for the
Future
WMRSS
Urban Renaissance
Rural Renaissance
Diversifying and
Modernising the
Economy
Modernising the
Transport
Infrastructure
Prosperity for All
Quality of the
Environment
Accessibility
Key: + indicates WMRSS supports objectives of WMH&WS
- indicates WMRSS conflicts with objectives of WMH&WS
+/- indicates WMRSS may either support or conflict with objectives of WMH&WS
Mapping the Objectives of the West Midlands Regional Spatial Strategy
(WMRSS) and the West Midlands Health & Well-being Strategy
(WMH&WS) at the micro level
Cross-cutting
Planning Transport & Health
Themes
WMH&WS
Children Young People and Families
Improved
Accessibility
Increased
Social
Inclusion
More Active
Transport
Less Road
Accidents
Less Air
Pollution/
Noise
Later Life
Improved
Built and
Natural
Environment
Enhanced
Community
Participation
and
Partnership
Working
Health
Inequalities
Social Inclusion
Demographic
Change
Mental Health
All
T12: Priorities for
Investment
Key: + indicates WMRSS supports objectives of WMH&WS
- indicates WMRSS conflicts with objectives of WMH&WS
+/- indicates WMRSS may either support or conflict with objectives of WMH&WS
T11: Airports
T10: Freight
T9: Management and
Development of
Transport Networks
T8: Demand
Management
T7: Car Parking
Standards and
Management
T6: Strategic Park &
Ride
T5: Public Transport
T4: Promoting Travel
Awareness
T3: Walking and Cycling
T2: Reducing the Need
to Travel
T1: Developing
Accessibility and
Mobility
WMRSS
Modernising the Transport Infrastructure
Cross-cutting
Themes
Communities for the
Future
Prosperity for All
Quality of the
Environment
Accessibility
From Mapping to Shaping
Inter-Professional Learning
• A full understanding of the inter-relationship requires
a developed systems mapping exercise (in the manner
of the Foresight Report)
• However, more important than achieving an ‘accurate’
representation is establishing a medium, through which
public health practitioners and spatial planners institute
and maintain regular dialogue
•Inter-professional Learning
The health dividend relies on seeing the
big picture and the detail at the same time
“Devil in the detail”: The challenge
• Develop a fully shared purpose
– Build mutual understanding
– Appreciate the scope of each others areas of work
• Build mutual goals into core business plans
• A “regional” understanding
Vision:
to strive beyond “the accepted” to “what
might be possible”
• The potential for new conceptual models of
healthy urban planning
• New patterns of connection, collaboration
and alignment
• New ways of sharing knowledge
• Communities of practice
What could help?
Additional principles and pre-requisites need
embedding in the system:
1. A commitment to seeing these regional
strategies as a continuous process
2. A commitment to build relationships
3. A commitment to collective action
• as a holistic process
• that recognizes the many disciplinary and professional
interests of the collective.
Inter-sectoral strategy development
requires Inter-Professional Learning
• Interprofessional education has been defined as "occasions
when two or more professions learn from and about each
other to improve collaboration and the quality of care" (CAIPE
1997).
• Based on the principles of organizational and educational
psychology it provides a pedagogic model to underpin service
realignment and integration
• IPE is not about "dumbing down" disciplinary intervention;
neither is it about multiskilling. Rather it is a process that
offers continuity and facilitates ongoing trust among
professionals
Opportunities: IPL
• A Common set of professional values relating to public sector
governance
• A history of interdisciplinary working
• The shared goal of creating “sustainable communities”.
• No national overview of healthy urban planning skills
• A Shortage of competencies to support the sustainable
community agenda (Egan Review , Association for Sustainable
Communities)
• Absence of generic skills training
• Collaborative working, Project management, Public
engagement.
Advancing Inter-professional
Learning
• Tools exist to assess the health implications of
planning applications
• Professional bodies are on board
• The professions have comparative CPD requirements
• The sustainable skills agenda could provide common
IPL content
• Opportunities for IPL at prequalifying levels are scant
Inter-sectoral strategy development
requires Inter-Professional Learning
• Translating IPL into practice is a complicated exercise,
requiring:
– models of service planning that allow for
measurement of change, as a function of the
collaborative (teamwork) experience.
– Structures that facilitate IPE for collaborative
practice
– Stability and sustained action
Organisational Implications
• Moving out of our silos
– Organisational Alignment
– Institutional commitment
– From supportive partnerships to active joint
working
• Breaking down the barriers between statutory
agencies and third sector organisations
Contacts
• Colin Thunhurst
c.thunhurst@coventry.ac.uk
• Patricia Bond
P.A.Bond@wlv.ac.uk
• Ginder Narle
ginder.narle@nhs.net