NIHA Co-Production Partnership

Co-production of research and interventions with the local community, government, commercial and policymakers is crucial to successfully translate research findings into practice but is rarely done.

The NIHA Co-Production Partnership, established in July 2021, is uniquely placed to engage with communities who are underrepresented in research, to inform research which is important and meaningful to people who can benefit the most.

The Partnership was pleased to be awarded a 2021/22 UEA Engagement Award.

Representatives from 17 organisations meet six times a year to share knowledge, expertise and co-design research ideas together.

There is a stark 19-years difference in healthy life expectancy between low-income and the most affluent communities.

Therefore, from December 2021 - February 2022, the Partnership prioritised hearing about the experiences of healthy ageing of those disadvantaged by living in a place of socio-economic deprivation or by circumstance.

The Partnership was uniquely placed to build upon their trusted relationships within their communities to run discussion groups to hear the experiences, needs and ideas of those we most wanted to engage.

The findings from the consultation are being fed into NIHA’s research and into local policy and we are passionate about ensuring the voices of the public continue to shape all we do.

Key findings from a listening exercise with disadvantaged individuals across Norfolk and Suffolk.

Findings from the NIHA Co-Production Partnership listening consultation exercise are now available to share.

The aim of the consultation was to gain a better understanding of the lived experiences of local people in Norfolk and Suffolk, in particular disadvantages people (defined in this consultation as disadvantaged by living in a place of socio-economic deprivation or by circumstances such as physical or mental ill-health) around healthy ageing.

Key questions of interest included: 1) What does the concept of healthy ageing mean to people? 2) What existing infrastructures, services and other local assets do the public find supportive to lives ‘well-lived’ and what are the gaps and needs? 3) What should the priories be in terms of policy and research, to help people age more healthily in the future?

Consultation: – 8 discussion groups and 13 interviews (n=53) with people form Norfolk and Suffolk – Spread across gender and ages (20-90 years) – Led and recruited by NIHA Partner organisations who had trusted relationships – December 2021-February 2022

You can view the full report as a PDF document.