In 2019, before Coronavirus was a common word, Well North Enterprises were appointed by Ashford St Peters Hospital Trust to explore the opportunity provided by land sale and new build. Donna Bradshaw facilitated an immersion a year ago where community, statutory and business leaders built a vision for the hospital of the future, with connected and health creating communities taking a place shaping approach. Placeshaping language is newly popular, but this work builds upon the 35 year Bromley by Bow Centre experience which has delivered an integrated approach to wellbeing, prevention, work, housing, education and health.
Following the Ashford St Peters Immersion in November 2019, and with all the challenges of a pandemic, progress has still been made - and four boroughs in North West Surrey are now working with NW Surrey Integrated Care Partnership, Ashford St Peters Hospital, Surrey County Council, Borough Councils and many other community and business partners to build strong, healthy connected communities. Each place has their own unique history, culture, circumstance and opportunities - and our work supports building the vision and leadership.
Over time, the Surrey Heartlands ICS leader, Clare Fuller, saw the opportunity to build on the ‘learning by doing’ in NW Surrey, and recognised that there is a huge opportunity to build the ICS as something different - to help drive health creation in new ways across the county. This is a significant cultural, leadership and organisational development challenge - and Prospect were delighted to be appointed as the OD partner for helping to deliver this for the ICS, connecting to the Well North Enterprises work in NW Surrey, moving across the county.
This is a major programme, with national attention, and a growing, living example of how the ‘micro’, real place shaping work on the ground, connects to the ‘macro’ - system leadership - creating the leadership, culture and conditions that allow entrepreneurial approaches for health creation to flourish and be sustained. The Pandemic has taught us a lot about what matters to us and what we value to live a happy, healthy life, and how important the NHS is when we get ill - health is so much about where we live and how we live.
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