Talk Listen Change latest updates

1. Views on the disproportionate impact of Covid-19

• Views about:
  • risk factors
  • symptoms
  • transmission
• Feeling targeted
• Impact on mental health
• Barriers to getting tested for Covid-19 and reasons for vaccine hesitancy

2. View on how the wider inequalities have impacted on the disproportionate impact of Covid-19

3. View on how to communicate with communities and co-develop solutions to tackle inequalities.

• Approaches to communicating/delivering messages
• More messaging and support for the management of health and lifestyle factors
• Creating more opportunities for a dialogue and equitable opportunities

Action 1: 

We reviewed the feedback and came up with 5 key themes relating to the research findings.  These are: Communicating across Luton; Improving Access to Physical Activity; Improving Mental Health; Self Help & Resilience; Funding & Resources

Action 2:

We invited our partners and stakeholders to come together as a system-wide action group (TLC Operational Group) to work on agreed actions responding to what communities told us.

Action 3:

We developed an 18 point action plan against the 5 key themes and work with partners to share information and knowledge to ensure we are meeting the needs of Luton’s diverse community.

1. Communicating finding across Luton

• Upload final Report and Executive Report onto Council webpage
• Written and upload accessible version of the final report
• Shared findings at Luton’s first Fairness Taskforce event
• Shared findings with community and faith groups
• Shared findings with Luton Anchor Institutions

2. Improving mental health and social isolation

Received funding from Office of Health Inequalities and Disparities to deliver Luton’s Mental Health Befriending Project aimed at:

• black
• south Asian
• other key ethnic groups

3. Improving Access to physical activity

Undertook further survey work to understand the physical activity needs of Luton’s women and girls and used the findings to work with Active Luton to deliver activities (Tai Chi, Bollywood dancing) women only sessions in:

• Saints
• Dallow
• Bury Park
• Chaul End

4. Funding and resources

Worked with Bedfordshire and Luton Community Foundation to fund community groups:

• X17 Improving Health (physical/mental/emotional)
• X11 Supporting Vulnerable people
• X3 Reduce isolation

1. A Luton wide multi-media six month campaign on the '5 Ways to Wellbeing'. This will be co-designed with Luton residents 

2. Work in partnership with the LGA and x3 Anchor Institutions to help services to respond better to diverse communities and residents

3. Develop stronger links with Luton’s NHS organisations and GP surgeries to tackle health inequalities

4. Plan and deliver a community event that enables our residents to be kept informed of  progress on how we are tackling health inequalities as a system

• Develop Luton’s culturally adapted CBT offer to enable better access to talking therapies
• Mapping of services available that meets TLC key themes
• Better sign posting to health information by working with communities to disseminate information to community groups via newsletters and residents
• Focus on working with community researchers, families and connectors to build community resilience
• Developing ways of working with key organisations to improve health promotion, health education and sign-posting e.g Keech Cottage - Compassionate Communities and Recovery College
• Developing projects with our NHS colleagues to improve better health outcomes with our GP’s
• Improving health literacy
• Deliver a project that tackles social isolation

• We will measure our project and programme impact through building formal evaluation into key projects.
• We will ask the community whether we have been inclusive via customer/service feedback and other forums
• We will ask our anchor organisations to under-take self-reflection and report on what worked and what was challenging

• Influenced the way we work: Following the pandemic, services and organisations in Luton are more likely to think about working with Luton’s communities to meet local needs – includes CYP PH work
• Influenced receipt of further funding coming into Luton. E.g. Focused vaccine hesitancy working with wider ethnic groups e.g Gypsy, Roma, Traveller communities
• Influenced Luton’s one stop shop which focuses on accessibility and ease of access to health information
• Influenced and fed into the BLMK wide work to improve health inequalities E.g. Denny Review
• Sparked and enabled further research with the University of Bedfordshire’s Institute of Health into health behaviours of Luton residents during lock-down