Publish date: 20 May 2024
Working together to make every contact count and improve health and wellbeing in the North East and North Cumbria
Representatives from a diverse range of sectors came together to set out how the region can pull together to help residents lead happier, healthier lives.
Healthcare, local authorities, housing, the voluntary and community sector, and academics were all represented at the Making Every Contact Count (MECC) strategy meeting for the North East and North Cumbria.
Joining a MECC meeting for the first time was Satty Rai, member engagement manager for the Northern Housing Consortium, which is a membership organisation for the social housing sector.
“I wanted to learn more about the MECC approach and how we can link in health and housing and get them to work together right across the region,” she said. “We’re already working with partners to look at bringing health and housing together to make sure people in the region live in happy and health homes.”
MECC is all about public-facing colleagues taking the opportunity to talk to people about their health and wellbeing. The meeting sought to set out the action plan for the coming year to ensure that this evidence-based approach to behaviour change can have as much impact as possible.
Jill Harland, chair of North East and North Cumbria MECC, said: “We are all here to promote how big a difference making every contact count can make, so it made sense for us all to gather and make the most of our time together to agree our priorities.
“I would also like to thank our speakers in the morning session - Tracy Smith and Jon Quine, from the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System, and Dr Sohail Munshi, from NHS England - who really helped set the tone for the fruitful discussions that were held later on.”
Dr Munshi is a GP in Manchester who also advises NHS England on MECC. He shared inspiring examples of how people thinking and doing things differently could have a huge impact on patients and the wider health and wellbeing of communities.
“MECC is about listening to our communities and taking the opportunity to give them the services that they want,” he said. “Too often, certainly in the NHS, we have a top-down approach to delivering services.
“MECC for me is flipping that and saying to under-served communities, what are the services you want, what are the services you need, what are the things you want that would enable you to live happy, healthy lives.”
He added: “The key message for me is that partnership working always results in a better offer than silo working.”
The regional MECC programme forms part of the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System’s (ICS) work to ensure we achieve better health and wellbeing for all, to help people live healthier lives for longer. It is hosted by Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
Craig Robson, regional MECC lead, said: “We’ve made clear that MECC is not just about healthcare organisations, it’s about everyone taking responsibility for what they can do to help improve the lives of people in the North East and North Cumbria. That’s why it was great to have such a broad range of organisations in the room to discuss our plan going forward.”
For more about MECC and how you can get involved, visit www.