Putting the interest of people, place and planet at the heart of what we do
NHS Ayrshire & Arran has developed an Anchor/Community Wealth Building (CWB) Strategy to harness our power as an anchor institution and to positively impact health, social, economic and environmental outcomes in Ayrshire & Arran.
NHS Ayrshire & Arran, along with our local partners in the Ayrshire Community Wealth Building Commission, which includes East, North and South Ayrshire Council, has adopted Community Wealth Building as a key practical approach to economic development. It aims to address some of the challenges posed by post-Covid recovery, health inequalities, child poverty and the climate emergency.
What is Community Wealth Building?
Community Wealth Building is a people-based approach to local economic development. It redirects wealth back into the local economy so that workers, residents and consumers benefit from the economic activity happening in their communities.
This means better paid, more secure jobs and more locally rooted, ‘generative’ businesses that share the wealth they create with workers, consumers and communities.
NHS Ayrshire & Arran Community Wealth Building has six elements or pillars. These pillars focus on ensuring that wealth is locally owned and benefits the local community.
Read more about the six pillars:
Why should we adopt a Community Wealth Building approach?
We are living in unprecedented times and are facing a range of social, economic and environmental challenges. The economy is entering recession and the current economic model, instead of delivering prosperity for all, is leaving people less secure, worse off and doing little to address the climate emergency. This in turn increases inequality and poor health.
Widening health inequalities and growing pressures on health care services has prompted discussions about the role of the NHS in preventing ill health and its broader influence in local communities. Causes of poor health and inequality are driven by factors out with the control of the NHS. However, the NHS deals with the consequences. Access to clinical care is important, but we know that good health is shaped by the conditions in which people live, learn, work and age.
The answer is no longer traditional economic growth, which assumes that as the economy grows, wealth for all will flow. Community Wealth Building (CWB) is a new economic model which delivers a practical response to current economic issues providing a new approach to our economy, centred on wellbeing, reduction of poverty and inclusion.
Newsletter 2 – Why we are focussing on Community Wealth Building
Community Benefits Gateway
The NHSScotland Community Benefits Gateway (CBG) is a free and easy to use online service that connects NHSScotland suppliers with third sector community organisations within Scotland who are looking for assistance with community initiatives (needs).
Through supporting the use of NHSScotland Community Benefits Gateway (CBG) NHS Ayrshire & Arran aims to help to reduce health inequalities and improve the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of the citizens of Ayrshire.
If you are a local supplier with an NHS community benefit contract requirement or an Ayrshire charity with a community need click below.