Blackpool Researching Together is a health inequalities research project which is a partnership between:
- Blackpool Council
- Lancaster University
- The local community
- The voluntary sector
- Blackpool Teaching Hospitals
The project is known nationally as the Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) and has been awarded 5 years of funding by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
By supporting access to research and creating new research, Blackpool Researching Together will help Blackpool Council and others to find out exactly why health inequalities exist and how we transform our services and systems to work better for our local communities.
By putting the Blackpool community at the heart of the project, we can work together to find ways for everyone to have the chance to lead happier and healthier lives. Working together as co-researchers, we will ensure that local people’s day-to-day experiences of facing health inequalities in the town drives our work.
Our research will focus on the following four priority areas:
Blackpool model
Over the last 10 years, Blackpool has been developing and embedding a whole town approach to co-producing change. This work has been made possible by funding from the Big Lottery Community Fund.
Various projects, such as Fulfilling Lives, A Better Start and the HeadStart Blackpool Resilience Revolution have all had co-production as a fundamental part of their approach and learning from these pilots and programmes have contributed to Blackpool being selected as the first National Institute for Health & Care Research funded Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) in the North West.
More information about Health Determinants Research Collaborations (HDRC)
Blackpool is moving from a consultation-based approach where we ask residents what they t`hink about something we have already committed to, to what we would define as authentic co-production, where people with lived experience are at the heart of changing services and systems, to improve the lives of our community.
Blackpool Researching Together has commissioned two community organisations to recruit community members to join the team as co-researchers. We have a commitment to providing paid roles for 10 youth community co-researchers with Boingboing Foundation and 10 adult community co-researchers with HealthWatch Blackpool.
Contact Us
Do you need more information on Blackpool Researching Together? Email hdrc@blackpool.gov.uk.
If you want to keep up-to-date with all the latest news, follow us on social media @Blackpool HDRC.
The NIHR Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) Blackpool is part of the NIHR and hosted by Blackpool Council. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.
NIHR Health Determinants Research Collaborations enable local authorities to become more research-active, embedding a culture of evidence-based decision making.