Integrated Health and Social Care

With an NHS under increasing pressure and more people living with long term conditions, it is vital we explore new, sustainable and effective ways of promoting health and wellbeing across all age groups and to support patients and their families. The Marmot 10 year update, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, has shifted health and social care focus to place greater emphasis on health equity and the broader determinants of wellness. The Public Health England initiatives are now addressing health inequalities exacerbated by the pandemic.

The vision of Integrated Health and Social Care is to address the challenges of wellness, healthy ageing and health inequality. We aim to support every sector of the community by promoting health equity to achieve five extra healthy years of life while promoting higher quality of life. We will achieve our vision by focusing on translational interdisciplinary research. Our Research Pillars foster synergies in three areas of existing Northumbria expertise and one emerging cross-cutting theme:

Inequalities and engagement with marginalised groups
Management of prevention of long-term conditions via tech-enabled and non-tech interventions.
Optimising social, physical and mental determinants of wellbeing across all life stages
Methodologies for co-creative design, implementation and (health economic) evaluation of real-world interventions (cross-cutting theme)

Research agenda

We are building a critical mass of research excellence that has socio-economic impact setting the following priority areas:

Enhance regional, national and international reputation for applied research in inequalities and wellness
Increase bidding capacity via strategic partnerships with regional and national collaborators
Promote our unique regional strengths in health economics, implementation science and workforce development
Grow our impact on policy and practice and link to professional opportunities
Increase our presence and impact on the regional care ecosystem
Contribute to develop regional economic growth via accelerator programmes (prosperity, wellness and productivity) leading to social and economic growth return (NIC-A, Aging HPO, ARC, Fuse)

Work with us

Our partners include NIHR, SPHR, Fuse, AHSN, GNCR, QCC, BMA, Family Justice Board, the EC, UK Research Councils, Ministry of Defence, Innovate UK, and Department of Health along with industrial and SME partners in Pharmaceuticals, Technology and Nutrition. If you are interested in collaborating and would like to find out more, please email Ioannis Vogiatzis (ioannis.vogiatzis@northumbria.ac.uk) and Katie Haighton (katie.haighton@northumbria.ac.uk).