Manchester has been announced as one of a number of areas that will collaborate to improve research capacity in areas of high levels of health need or deprivation.
Having submitted a bid to become a Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC), it has now been revealed that Manchester will undergo further development throughout 2024, with a view to becoming a full HDRC at the beginning of 2025. These collaborations are led by local governments and form a partnership to use council working and decision-making to inform research into how services can change, an example of this is through the use of first-hand experiences of those within communities.
A number of other key factors can inform the research as it works to inform future decisions, including voluntary and faith organisations, as well as partners within the public and private sectors.
Manchester City Council’s Executive Member for Healthy Manchester and Social Care, Cllr Thomas Robinson, said:
“This is a unique bid because it means that local people are at the heart of shaping policy and connecting with academia based on their own experiences. Too often communities are presented with pre-set solutions that they don’t relate to. The HDRC brings a new era in trust where local people can make their health priorities the subject of research – and will then see the impact on local decisions.
“Not only is that right, but it is [a] key theme of our Making Manchester Fairer Programme. That’s our five-year action plan to address health inequity and preventable deaths by looking at all the social factors that mean that some people in the city die earlier than others.
“Manchester is an incredible world-leading city and that’s why we want to make sure that those opportunities and expectations can be experienced by everyone who lives there.”
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