The Bristol Health Partners Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC) mission is to generate significant health gain and improvements in service delivery in the region by integrating, promoting and developing our strengths in health services, research, innovation and education.
We are a strategic collaboration between the city region’s universities, major health and care providers and commissioners, covering the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire area.
These organisations have formed the Partnership voluntarily, and we are funded by contributions from the partners.
As a membership organisation, we are able to understand and serve the needs of our partners and local population, rather than the agenda of a distant funding body.
The partnership includes commissioning and public health, which is rare among England’s health partnerships, giving a broader interpretation of health and its determinants. This broader membership means we do not focus solely on illness, but also address lifelong health and how to prevent illness in the first place. We work primarily through our pioneering and unique Health Integration Team (HIT) model. Our HITs bring together the best people from across the Partnership, networks and beyond to tackle health priorities by working in new ways, harnessing the best research, innovation, care and education, while collaborating with patients and the public to have a whole system approach.
Our designation as an Academic Health Science Centre by NHS England, NHS Improvement and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) on 1st April 2020 recognises the outstanding local collaborations between academia, public health, the NHS, social care and the voluntary and community sector that we have created across the region.
Our vision is to unite our excellence in healthcare provision, research and innovation, education and training to deliver healthier lives, through improved prevention of illness and disease and better integration of health and care services.
We want our region to be known for:
• Equal and fair access, experience and outcome, by tackling health deprivation and inequalities in care in inner-city, rural and coastal communities;
• The excellence of the care we commission and provide, underpinned by cutting-edge research and innovation, education and patient and public involvement;
• Connectedness and collaboration, delivered by a committed, well-trained and research-literate workforce.
Professor David Wynick, Director of the Bristol Health Partners AHSC commented:
“The importance of collaboration across research, health and social care has never been greater than we have seen with COVID-19. From the rapid creation of the NHS Nightingale Hospital Bristol to supporting national testing and vaccine trials, the strength of these partnerships is reflected in how local expertise and resources are coming together in response to COVID-19.”
“We should be proud of the outstanding local partnerships we have created and our resulting recognition as a national centre of excellence.”
“We will work together to develop and deliver novel, evidence-based treatments and health and care innovations across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, promoting best practice to improve outcomes for our local population.”
The initial focus of Bristol Health Partners AHSC will be on inequalities in health and care, mental health and children and young people (with a specific focus on COVID and adverse childhood experiences).
The long-term plan over the next five years will be for the Partnership to focus on six key areas including public health and prevention; mental health and neuroscience; cardiovascular science; surgical innovation; perinatal, reproductive and children’s health and delivering integrated, optimal and equitable care across the region.
