The ALLIANCE Health and Social Care Academy reviews activity in 2020

We shared contributions from key Scottish thinkers on COVID-19 and the Five Provocations for the Future of Health and Care.

During 2020, the ALLIANCE Health and Social Care Academy programme commissioned a new series of contributions looking at the COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of transformational change and the Five Provocations for the Future of Health and Care. Topics included:

• Women and COVID-19. with Emma Ritch, Engender
• Mental health and kindness, with Wendy Halliday, See Me
• Intersectionality and COVID-19, with Dr Anuj Kapilashrami
• Social care futures, with Annie Gunner Logan, CCPS
• Basic income, with Jamie Cooke, RSA Scotland
• Trauma and COVID-19, with John McCormack
• Gender competent leadership, with Emma Ritch, Engender
• Public finances, human rights and COVID-19, with Dr. Alison Hosie, Scottish Human Rights Commission
• COVID-19 and human rights, with Colin McKay, Edinburgh Napier University

Prior to the pandemic, in early 2020, the Academy organised a Firestarter Festival event, ‘Let’s Draw Health in Govanhill’, in partnership with Govanhill Housing Association. This was a creative and inclusive session aimed at the diverse local communities who experience healthcare inequalities to consider, “What kind of Scotland are we seeking to build?” You can see the event poster and read the event report.

One of the Academy’s most high-profile events of the year was held in February 2020, again before the pandemic arrived. This was the highly successful ‘Courageous Leadership in Public Service’ – An afternoon with Mhairi Black MP, organized in partnership with the University of the West of Scotland.

The Academy has an ongoing partnership with RSA Scotland to deliver a series of events aimed at establishing the RSA Scotland Health Network and centred around the theme of ‘Revisiting Beveridge’s Five Giant Evils’. During 2020 we held two events in the series, both chaired by Clare Cable, Chief Executive and Nurse Director, Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland and Honorary Professor, Queen Margaret University.

The first event focused on courageous leadership, and featured guest speakers Mairi O’Keefe (Founder and Patron of Leuchie House and Director of Ceannas), Bill Alexander (Children in Scotland Associate), and Claire D’All, (disability activist and blogger).

The second event focused on ‘sustainable health and care: climate change and COVID-19’. It featured guest speaker Kate Dapré, Head of Energy and Sustainability at NHS National Services Scotland, and was accompanied by an Academy Provocation Paper.

Back in 2019 the Academy began exploring how health and social care services in Scotland can address weight stigma and promote health and body respect for all. During 2020 we were therefore delighted to be invited to join a Public Health Scotland Short-Life Working Group to design and deliver a ‘Challenging Weight Bias and Discrimination e-Resource’, which is due to be published in 2021.

Meanwhile, our work on Open Dialogue has led to the Academy’s continued involvement in action to improve early intervention in psychosis in Scotland, including membership of the Early Intervention in Psychosis Lived Experience Reference Group (EIPLERG), which is part of the Early Intervention in Psychosis Improvement Network (this link will take you away from our website). We are partners in delivering EIPLERG engagement events with people with lived experience of psychosis and unpaid carers to inform and influence future early intervention services.

During 2020, the Academy delivered a joint workshop series with the ALLIANCE’s Integration Support team exploring the theme of ‘Engagement’. The three sessions held so far have featured the following themes and guest contributors: ‘What is engagement?’ with Hugh Hill (Simon Community Scotland) and Susan Paxton (SCDC); ‘Engagement, what works and what doesn’t?’ with Graeme Morrison (Healthcare Improvement Scotland) and Gordon Johnston (mental health campaigner); and ‘Power and Engagement’ with Pauline Nolan (Inclusion Scotland) and Raymond Strachan (People-Led Policy Panel). A fourth and final session scheduled for early 2021 will explore the theme of ‘Engagement, power and diversity’.

The Academy also contributed towards delivery of the ALLIANCE’s highly successful week-long 2020 Annual Conference. We hosted a public screening of the ‘Resilience’ documentary (this link will take you away from our website) with panel discussion about COVID-19, childhood adversity and resilience, and a second public screening of the ‘Free Lunch Society’ documentary, with international panel discussion about basic income, chaired by Jamie Cooke of RSA Scotland.

Finally, the Academy commissioned an Opinion by the Menopause Café about its work to tackle taboos of menopause, and an Opinion by Audrey Birt about care in all its forms.

Reports of other ALLIANCE programme activities during 2020 can be found in our News section.

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