Reflections on the Fairer Health for All Manchester Learning Event

Reflections on the FHfA Manchester Learning Event, by Saroja Forester

Date Posted: 09/04/2025


I attended a Fairer Health for All Learning Hub in March to hear about the Making Manchester Fairer Community Forum. It was heartening to see the great work being done across Manchester, bringing people together from different sectors and capitalising on the skills of the local population.

Representatives of Healthy Me Healthy Communities1 illustrated the expertise of people within our communities – their knowledge base, their connections, their deep understanding of the internal workings of their community and what residents actually want.

Alongside sharing of ideas and knowledge, the community themselves often have the means to effect change and must be trusted to do so in ways which are wanted and welcomed by the community they are part of. Communities are rich in resources (people, ideas, forums already established) and it is not for outside sectors to simply impose their own projects on them with the expectation that this will make a meaningful difference.

There is still much to be gained from different services collaborating with community forums to share their specialist knowledge and work together to create solutions. As a GP, I feel it is important that people working in our practice give evidence-based medical advice in ways which are accessible, for example to improve the uptake of breast screening2 or to promote the health benefits of good attendance at school3. The event made me think about how we work with our communities and adapt our health messaging, so it aligns with the ideas and priorities in these communities.

​What’s more, our starting point needs to be working with already-established groups who are able to act as the vital link between outside sectors and the local community. Therefore, it is imperative that professionals take the time to listen to the community, learn from them and trust them to do what they do best.

Not only will this systems leadership approach4 be more effective than individual organisations working on their own, but because it is adopted at a local level it is more likely to be sustainable and better integrated for long-term improved health outcomes. The inside knowledge of local residents combined with putting power back in their hands enable services to be targeted in a way which is accessible and promotes health equity.

I therefore encourage those of us working in primary care to be familiar with the GM Inclusion Health Toolkit5 for information about the VCFSE sector in our community, or to simply ask our patients about what local groups exist. By adopting shared decision-making, services can be co-designed and co-delivered to greater effect.  


Dr Saroja Forester

Fairer Health for All Fellow

saroja@publichealthgp.co.uk

1 Healthy Me Healthy Communities (2025) [Last accessed 18th March 2025] Retrieved from www.hmhc.co.uk

2 Gov.uk (2024) Breast screening: reducing inequalities [Last accessed 18th March 2025] Retrieved from www.gov.uk/government/publications/breast-screening-identifying-and-reducing-inequalities/breast-screening-reducing-inequalities

3 Forester, S. (2025). IMPROVING ATTENDANCE IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN BRINNINGTON, STOCKPORT doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.28554959.v4

4 Greater Manchester Moving: Systems Leadership [Last accessed 18th March 2025] Retrieved from www.gmmoving.co.uk/get-involved/leadership-and-workforce/systems-leadership

5 Fairer Health for All Academy (2025) Primary Care Inclusion Health Toolkit [Last accessed 18th March 2025] Retrieved from fairerhealthacademy.gmtableau.nhs.uk/primary-care-inclusion-health-toolkit-pdf

To learn more about Saroja's experience with the Fairer Health for All Fellowship, click here.