The NHS trust that runs Scarborough Hospital has said it wants to work more closely with the region’s elected mayor to reduce health inequalities on the coast.
Health bosses have said they want to work more closely with York and North Yorkshire’s Mayor, David Skaith, to prevent coastal health inequalities from arising and to tackle existing ones.
At a board meeting on Wednesday, March 26, Martin Barkley, the chair of the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said the trust would be writing to the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority about being “part of an anchor institution network on the East coast”.
He told health bosses that the trust as an ‘anchor institution, has “a big role to play and can make a big contribution to reducing inequalities”.
A report on what the trust “can, and should be doing to help prevent inequalities from arising in the first place and tackling existing ones” was presented and is set to form part of an implementation plan for the next two years.
Dawn Parkes, a trust board member and chief nurse, said:
“As a big employer, how do we enable the most deprived, I just take the healthcare academy as an example.
“We’ve taken apprentices in with no qualifications, got them to be able to do the apprenticeship, and I think we can build on some really great work that we’ve already got going, but we just need to spread it further than we’ve done.”
Jim Dillon, a non-executive director, said:
“I think now that we’ve got a combined authority with an elected mayor, the responsibilities of that body should be precisely that, to try and bring together strategies which match up the skill provision.
“It’s really making sure you’ve got the right people with the right skills to match what employers demand.”
Simon Morritt, chief executive of the York and Scarborough NHS Trust, said the trust already worked with the City of York and North Yorkshire councils but noted “they’re just not defined as anchor networks”.
Mr Morritt added that with the support of the board, he would be contacting Mayor Skaith directly to discuss closer cooperation on the reduction and prevention of coastal health inequalities.
At a meeting of the Scarborough and Whitby area committee on Friday, March 21, councillors and local MP Alison Hume also called on the mayor to ensure that the coast is a “priority” for the combined authority and said that a dedicated staff member should be assigned to coastal issues.
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