Gorton Community
Gorton Community Priority Setting Partnership
In traditional research practices, communities are often asked to provide input on specific health topics, like cancer prevention. However, their approach was broader, aiming to include discussions on all aspects of health and wellbeing, as determined by the community.
Funded by the NIHR Manchester Clinical Research Network, their engagement team supported the outreach and will use the community's identified priorities to inform local residents about existing research studies. This ensures that research efforts are aligned with what matters most to the community.
By expanding the scope in this way, community partners who contributed to the project will be able to use the output to set strategic objectives and pursue funding opportunities for their respective organisations. The aim of the project was to contribute to the discourse on power-sharing by transitioning from collaborative design processes to shared outcomes, outputs and impact.
Why work in Gorton?
In the past, Gorton has been left out of conversations about health research:
- Gorton is rich with community groups and organisations keen to work together
- Gorton is the highest priority neighbourhood within Central Manchester and past engagement demonstrated a good appetite for public involvement.
- More information about the area can be found in this neighbourhood profile.
Impact
The project will continue to work together to develop the outcomes by:
- Sharing research priorities through the NIHR Clinical Research Network and encouraging researchers to consider community developed research questions in their future plans.
- Shaping future community development and service delivery for Healthy Me Healthy Communities, Steering Group members and project partners.
- Developing methods and or toolkits for further community led priority-setting activities in Greater Manchester and beyond.
The PSP was led by Healthy Me Healthy Communities (HMHC) and Vocal.
The Gorton Community PSP Top 10 was published in September 2024.
The images were taken at the Community Gorton PSP workshop in February 2024 by Chelsea Farrell for Gorton Health Matters.
Further information
Top 10 priorities
The most important questions
- How does a lack of employment, job opportunities and job security impact the health and wellbeing of people in Gorton?
- Can holistic options like lifestyle changes instead of medication benefit people with illnesses?
- Why is it difficult to get appointments at GP surgeries in Gorton? How has this impacted their ability to live happy and healthy lives?
- Do community events and volunteers improve loneliness/social isolation and wellbeing and is there a need for more specific groups/activities for people to come together in Gorton? (disability, illnesses, multigenerational, mental health)
- How is damp and mould impacting the health of Gorton residents and what are the long term effects for home owners and renters?
- What are paid and unpaid carers' lived experiences in Gorton regarding access to rest and available support for them?
- How is violence and antisocial behaviour affecting the wellbeing of people in Gorton?
- What is the emotional impact of residents losing their family homes due to reasons such as bedroom tax and housing costs
- How does the use of online booking services affect residents who cannot use or do not have access to computers?
- Does eating food received through food banks and community grocers impact a person’s health?
The following questions were also discussed and put in order of priority at the workshop:
- Does being unable to afford heating effect the health and wellbeing of Gorton residents?
- How many people can't access appointments at the dentist in Gorton and why?
- What are the effects of having local mental health services, support and engagement for people in Gorton that include age, multigenerational and culturally specific offers?
- What can be done to encourage people to make healthier choices about nutrition/food/exercise?
- Are Gorton residents lonely and how does this impact their health and wellbeing?
- Do we need to reduce the stigma of mental illness for better treatment/responses by local health care services?
- What effective ways are there to remove the stigma around financial hardship and health conditions? What impact does this have on health and wellbeing?
- Is support for disabled residents effective in Gorton?
- What are the experiences and support needs of parents and carers that are autistic in Gorton?
- How does the high rat population due to litter and rubbish affect the local resident’s health?
- How do local transport services impact people’s ability to live happy, healthy, socially connected lives?
- What is the lived experience of healthcare workers, support workers and carers? What are the challenges and barriers to in their role?
- How do medical appointments located out of area impact Gorton residents’ health and wellbeing?
- For those that cannot walk, does access to and cost of transport (e.g. taxis) effect residents health and wellbeing?
Key documents
These documents set out the aims, objectives and commitments of the PSP