Overview of the work:
Partnership For Young London, alongside Youth Focus Northwest and Youth Focus NorthEast has been funded by NHS Charities Together to deliver a peer research programme looking at the challenges young people across the country are facing when it comes to health and healthcare.
About NHS Charities Together:
NHS Charities Together serves as the national charity for the NHS, collaborating with over 230 NHS charities across the UK. It aims to help the NHS deliver services ensuring that everyone has access to the highest quality of health and care. In a significant step toward tackling health inequalities, NHS Charities Together has launched its Innovation Challenge grants fund, committing £40 million over the next 10 years to support projects targeting health inequalities, particularly among young people. Recognising the complexity of these inequalities, NHS Charities Together is determined to ensure that young people’s voices are central to the development of solutions.
Scotland focus group:
Since the launch of the project in May, 14 youth change-makers across London, the North-East and North-West have been recruited and trained up in peer-research. Following their training, the youth changemakers have been conducting focus groups across the country, including the devolved nations.
As part of its ongoing efforts to address health inequalities among young people, PYL conducted a focus group with the Scottish Youth Parliament, attended by Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament (MSYP). The conversation centred around the various challenges young people in Scotland face regarding their health. Key issues discussed included how location, gender, and ethnicity have shaped these experiences, with participants sharing personal stories and insights.
One of the central topics of the discussion was mental health, with many young people expressing concerns about the lack of mental health services and the stigma that still surrounds the issue. MSYPs also emphasised how young people from remote areas had negatively impact due to their location and access to health services, particularly mental health support. Young people in non-central regions often face long travel times to access basic services, making it difficult for them to get the help they need in a timely manner.
The group proposed several solutions to overcome these inequalities, including stronger collaboration between schools, health services, and community organisations. By working together, these institutions could make healthcare more accessible, whilst leading to overall better health outcomes and tailored to the needs of young people, regardless of where they live. The young participants highlighted the importance of localising services, such as offering mental health support within schools.
Next steps:
The project’s data collection stage will continue to September, after which the youth changemakers will come together to analyse their data and create a range of outputs.
Comments