Co-creating, embedding and acting on research evidence to reduce health inequalities: the Medway Health Determinants Research Collaboration

Vision: Our vision is that Medway Council will have, across all its services and levels, an organisational culture for research to improve health and wellbeing that is sustainably ingrained into its values, behaviours and activities. We conceptualise a research culture as one where it is standard practice and second nature to use research to inform decision-making, take part in national portfolio studies, develop public health research skills among staff, co-create research with the public, encourage and nurture staff to voice and develop ideas about innovation and work closely with universities to seek funding and deliver research projects. We propose a 5-year Health Determinants Research Collaboration starting in 2022 between the unitary Medway Council and the successful applied health research centre (Centre for Health Services Studies) at the University of Kent. Background: Medway is on the North Kent coast with a population of almost 300,000 people living in the conurbation of five towns and surrounding rural areas with isolated communities. Medway is much more deprived than the South East average and there is considerable inequality in health and the determinants of health. Aims and objectives: * embed research evidence into decisions across the council that influence health * co-produce research priorities * co-create research with the public including underserved communities * develop staff research knowledge, skills and confidence and encourage collaboration with academics * develop and implement systems for the council to apply for research funding, deliver research, manage research budgets, monitor research and complete it safely, legally and ethically To achieve this, we will appoint a team led by a programme director, who has a senior position in the council, other senior council officers, a member of the public and researchers from the university. Key deliverables: There will be four interlinked workstreams over the 5-year period * Set up, strategy development and prioritisation * Research capacity, training and development * Building local research and evidence to drive council activity * Dissemination strategy, outputs and pathways to impact Key milestones: * HDRC team in place – Mar 2023 * First prioritisation process completed – Sep 2023 * Procedures for research governance – Jun 2023 * Train first cohort of council staff - Sep 2023 * Communities of practice operational - Sep 2023 Collaborators: We will create an environment of co-production, ensuring research is acceptable, feasible, evaluable, replicable and sustainable. To do this, we will engage the public, including underserved communities, and collaborators to plan, conduct and evaluate research. Anticipated impact and dissemination: The council has developed its research capabilities, capacity and culture in health research over recent years and sees the HDRC as an opportunity to embed research more sustainably into the organisation, to generate better evidence for council activities and better value for residents, bring income for innovation, motivate the workforce and, ultimately and most importantly, deliver a more effective public health function and reduce health inequalities. We will disseminate the work and learning of the HDRC to the public, regionally and nationally through networks (e.g., Applied Research Collaboration, Office for Health Improvement & Disparities) using methods including conferences, articles, infographics and social media.