This article was first published on the Yorkshire Universities website.
The NHS Confederation recently hosted a webinar focused on the local growth agenda, the role of acute trusts, and how they can influence local leaders. Yorkshire Universities (YU) Executive Director, Dr Peter O’Brien, was invited to speak at the event to provide broad insights from the higher education sector and regional perspectives from higher education institutes within Yorkshire and the Humber.
The session was chaired by Michael Wood, Head of Health Economic Partnerships at the NHS Confederation, who led the discussion. Christopher George, Health Economic Policy Advisor, also gave a presentation on ‘The NHS as an Economic Actor: The role of the NHS in the Economy’. Accompanying panel members included Mark Rogers, Chief Executive at the Leadership Centre, and Kathryn Lavery, Chair of Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust. Alongside panel members, Peter addressed multiple questions covering collaboration and partnerships, civic goals and local communities, devolution and stability, regional powers and local authorities, financial challenges, and the importance of networks in combating health inequalities.
This webinar supports YU’s work in health & wellbeing, bringing together knowledge to inform our current and future projects. Previous work between YU, the NHS Confederation, and Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber, includes the development of the YHealth4Growth white paper. The paper was presented in Parliament, in October 2024, to show how Yorkshire can provide a “blueprint” for the new Labour government, regional mayors, and businesses to address health and economic equalities that cost UK plc at least £180billion a year.
You can download the webinar presentation slides here, which provide details on the NHS as an economic actor and presents a new framework centered around economic growth – in line with the Government’s central mission.
