Six NHS anchor institutions awarded funding to progress and test anchor practice and generate new learning

The Health Anchors Learning Network (HALN) launched in March 2021 and enables participants to share and develop ideas, knowledge and skills, helping them to implement anchor strategies in practice.  

This new funding programme is providing six NHS anchor institutions, who are all participants of HALN, with grants of up to £25,000 each for projects that will last between six and nine months.

Anchor institutions are large public sector organisations which are rooted in place and connected to their communities, such as universities, local authorities, and hospitals. Anchors have significant assets and spending power and can consciously use these resources to benefit communities. 

The aim of the funding is to support these NHS anchor institutions to deliver projects that will enable them to make progress on their broader anchor ambitions and contribute to tackling health inequalities. It is also hoped that it will lead to new and valuable learning for the other HALN participants, as well as others working on anchor activities across health and care.

The awards in England are co-funded by the Health Foundation and NHS England and NHS Improvement. The award in Scotland is funded by the Health Foundation.

Outputs and learning generated by the projects will be shared widely and through the HALN.

The six successful projects are:

• Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust: Anchoring on the coast: co-designing an anchor framework
  Working with communities facing multiple disadvantages across Blackpool and the Fylde Coast, this project will embed five community researchers who will work with the Trust’s research team to co-develop an anchor framework for coastal communities.
• Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust: Introducing a Foundation School in Health at Bassetlaw
  This project will involve developing a model of engagement with schools and young people that will inform, shape and deliver a ‘Foundation School in Health’ in the Bassetlaw area.
• East London NHS Foundation Trust: Evaluating and embedding social values in procurement
  This project will develop and implement an evaluation framework for social value procurement, with the aim of generating learning and identifying improvements and best practice.
• NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde: Diversifying NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s supply chain
  This project aims to diversify NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s supply chain and will involve analysing existing supplier data and developing an engagement programme to provide a bespoke range of support to small and medium-sized enterprises.
• Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust: A Charter to Action – Anchor Youth Partnership
  With the aim of supporting young people’s employment opportunities in Mid and South Essex, this project will involve developing a Youth Partnership to improve pre-employment support for young people, in particular those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
• The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kings Lynn NHS Foundation Trust: Workforce research project
  Using collective employment power to positively influence the social determinants of health and address workforce challenges, this project will involve developing a shared local plan to enable the most deprived communities to access employment opportunities.