Over the last 5 years Well  Doncaster has been guided by and has added to the growing evidence base that investing in supporting, working with and empowering communities facilitates healthy communities.

Well Doncaster is proud to share our 2020-2021 Annual report and accompanying video which demonstrates our continued commitment to utilising community centred approaches in creating a community led Health and Wealth approach, encouraging and facilitating asset based discussions with our residents and ensuring communities  are  involved  in  decision-making about  where  they  live,  work,  play.

The video outlines how we have been the leader in using community centred approaches as the starting point in approaching local challenges and opportunities and feel embedding asset based approaches in the way we work with individuals, families and communities is crucial to the achievement of Team Doncaster’s overall vision.

We have been utilising Public Health England framework for community centred approaches for health and wellbeing and have developed an evidenced base outcomes framework to shape and drive our work in Doncaster in reducing health inequalities and building stronger, more resilient communities.

The framework focuses on three key approaches: Individual, Community and Organisational

Individual: Promote increased heath literacy, behaviour change, self-management and self-efficacy leading to improved health and wellbeing.

Community: Build resilience, social capital and strengthen community resources and leadership

Organisational: Embed evidence based community centred approaches across Team Doncaster, utilise VCFS intelligence and collaboration in shaping locality commissioning and redesigning services.

By focusing community centred approaches at an individual, community and organisational level, we have the best chance of closing the health gaps that have only widened through the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Click to watch our video: https://youtu.be/NLcZtBzIr_A

We have also created a written report which goes in to further detail about the work we have been doing in each locality around Covid-19 response and recovery, gathering and responding to community insight and how we have continued or adapted community based support.

Covid-19 has been a significant risk to the resilience of our communities and we have led in supporting communities to continue, adapt and change their provision to ensure residents receive the support they need. The report outlines how the Well Doncaster team has been working with communities to understand and respond to the shifting challenges of the last year and working to ensure that the Voluntary, Faith, Community Sector (VCFS) is sustainable and resilient. The report also outlines the fantastic work being achieved with our partner Get Doncaster Moving.

Get Doncaster Moving and Well Doncaster share the same values and principles, and seek to empower local people and trust communities to shape their own future.  The Get Doncaster Moving approach to addressing inactivity is built upon continual engagement with communities and through working collaboratively with Well Doncaster to ensure the community voice and insight which they gather is behind all the work that Get Doncaster Moving do.

The report shares examples of how in Get Doncaster Moving’s pursuit of change and embedding physical activity into the culture of Doncaster, the impact Well Doncaster has had is vital in tackling health inequalities and influencing the determinants of health thus impacting physical activity at a community level.

You will find an update on Community Wealth Builder that was launched in 2020. Community Wealth Builder is a person centred approach to local economic development by providing support to new and existing social enterprises across the Sheffield City Region. Community Wealth Builder continued to gain traction throughout the COVID pandemic. With many organisations unable to deliver their core services, Community Wealth Builder has supported organisations to adapt and change as they support local people and the communities. There has also been a large number of new enterprises launched in response to the pandemic. Well Doncaster’s relationships across the Voluntary Community and Faith Sector has been a great asset to Community Wealth Builder and provided opportunities to support organisations from across the borough.

Well Doncaster has collaborated with North, East and South Primary Care Networks and launched Be Well Doncaster In March 2021.  Be Well Doncaster provides person centred, one to one behaviour change support by trained Health and Wellbeing Coaches. Be Well Doncaster utilises motivational interviewing techniques and evidence based behaviour change tools to help individuals identify and deal with the root causes of ill health and improve their quality of life. Be Well Doncaster is working directly with GP practice, health partners and Voluntary Community and Faith organisations in identifying patients and residents who could benefit from support. You can read more about Be Well Doncaster and its priorities for the coming year in the report.

Well Doncaster has a clear focus for the upcoming year and will be working towards the following key areas as we continue in our mission to reduce inequalities, strengthen communities and improve the health and wellbeing of all;

• Support the VCFS to get back up and running safely by supporting the sector to have the skills, capacity and resources to adapt, strengthen and grow.
• Draw on our years of local experience in supporting internal and external partners in using evidence based community centred approaches.
• Commissioning will routinely support and foster community development and community capacity building and preventive grass roots level support – not just how activities are commissioned but what activities are commissioned
• Pump prime collaboration in each locality to ignite innovation and creativity in developing hyper-local support.
• Utilise local intelligence and continue to have regular and meaningful conversations with communities to ensure we are focusing on their priorities, that we understand what their assets and strengths are and that we continue to build relationships of trust as we work together in building vibrant, resilient communities across Doncaster.

Read the full report here

Collaboration is a core to our ethos so please get in touch if you want to get involved and understand more about what we are doing and how we are working in Doncaster.

welldoncaster@doncaster.gov.uk

@WellDoncaster