A new project has been launched to work in collaboration with children and young people, along with the adults who support them, in North East London to ensure that healthcare services respond to and meet their needs.
The ‘Participation of under-served young people in North East London health and wellbeing Services’ (PANELS) project is collaborating with young people and healthcare professionals in Redbridge to create a sustainable partnership that ensures local healthcare systems are informed by young people’s needs, improving their health and wellbeing. Funded by a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) ‘Programme Development Grant’, the project’s findings will inform the future development of the North East London Integrated Care System (ICS) strategy planning as well as further research on young people’s participation in health and care services.
Researchers from the University of Hertfordshire are co-producing the project with Community Action Redbridge, a local charity, and the North East London Integrated Care Board (ICB), who are hosting the project. The project aims to champion the voices of under-served and marginalised young people, who are often excluded from consultations about healthcare services. By working with young people throughout the project, as co-applicants, advisors, and evaluators, the project is testing a range of creative methods to identify the most effective ways to engage diverse young people in ways that work for them. PANELS will evaluate these methods, contributing to future research focused on inclusive engagement and collaboration with young people.
“Despite increasing interest in young people’s participation in healthcare, their views are not consistently sought or acted on and this is even more likely to be the case when they are marginalised or under-served. This project offers an amazing opportunity to work collaboratively with services, community organisations and young people.
Louca-Mai Brady, Principal Investigator of the PANELS project
Louca-Mai Brady continues, "We’ll explore together how diverse young people’s voices can best be heard and lead to real changes in health and wellbeing policy and practice.”
North East London is one of the most diverse and deprived areas within England, with high levels of child poverty. Health inequalities in this area have been exacerbated since the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular for children and young people, affecting relevant healthcare services and worsening health outcomes. Although children and young people make up a quarter of the UK population and are high users of healthcare services, research shows they receive only 11% of health funding. There is a need to ensure that young people can contribute to the design of healthcare systems, so it is more equitable and better addresses their unique needs. The PANELS project will address this gap.
“We’re thrilled to be co-leading this exciting new project and supporting the involvement of local young people. This project aims to place their voices at the heart of decision-making, ensuring that local priorities and strategies are grounded in their lived experiences, and ultimately more responsive, inclusive and impactful.”
Jenny Ellis, CEO at Community Action Redbridge
"This project gives us a fantastic opportunity to make a positive difference by getting young people actively involved in conversations about health and care services in their own community and giving them a say in decisions that affect their own lives.
Kath Evans, Clinical Lead for Babies, Children and Young People at NHS North East London
Kath Evans continues, "Our aim is to create a strong and lasting partnership between young people and those who work with them, learning and working together so we can improve the health and wellbeing of under-served young people across north east London and beyond."
This 14-month project will build upon Louca-Mai Brady’s research within this area. Her recent project with the Association for Young People’s Health for NHS England, for the NHS England Children and Young People’s Transformation team, found that there are limited resources for commissioners on how to engage with young people in health service design and delivery. The PANELS project will explore what ‘good’ participation looks like in practice and consider how disability, ethnicity, culture, and poverty affect young people’s opportunities for participation. The findings from this project will inform the future development of an evaluation tool for ICBs to audit participant practice with young people.
“We both felt that it was really important for this work to look at the many ways young people in the area may be disadvantaged, and not focus on one specific group or ‘label.’”
Young co-applicant of the PANELS project
The PANELS project team will bring together various organisations, including professionals from ICBs, third-sector organisations, and young people, to build relationships and create a new partnership that collaborates in the decision-making processes for services aimed at young people. They will achieve this through establishing a ‘community of practice’ with key stakeholders to explore, develop, and share innovative ways of working with young people. The project was developed with two young people, who are now part of the research team. They will be involved throughout the project, including helping to recruit young advisors who live, use services, or work in the area to take part in the project.
The project team is looking to hear from young people aged 15-25 who live and/or use services in Redbridge, and services who work with them. If you’re interested in finding out more, please contact the project team at panels@herts.ac.uk.
See the University of Hertfordshire’s press release here.
