Walsall Together Partnership is celebrating this week after successfully bidding with Walsall Healthcare NHS Trusts Well Wishers Charity for a £96,000 share of a NHS Charities Together grant. The grant was part of a Black Country and Birmingham wide bid totalling £646,725.

With some of the top 10% most financially deprived communities in the country being in Walsall, the grant will be used to deliver a number of projects, which aim to tackle health and wellbeing inequalities and social isolation in Walsall.

Daren Fradgley, Director of Integration for Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have been successful in our application for this bid. The money will be instrumental in allowing the Walsall Together partnership to really push forward with our plans to reduce social isolation and health inequalities in Walsall and support our most vulnerable residents to lead healthier and happier lives.”

Project plans for the grant include:

• Working with the voluntary and community sector to engage with our communities, specifically with those people who are vulnerable or seldom heard, on issues such as the wider determinants of health including social isolation and the impact these have on the health and well-being outcomes for the population of Walsall
• Supporting whg with the recruitment of a small team of champions to their ‘Kindness Counts’ programme of work. The programme aims to use targeted interventions such as a co-produced activates programme, gaming platforms, befriending services and linking in with other community wellbeing programmes to reduce the impact of loneliness and isolation of people  and communities
• Co-production training with key stakeholders to ensure co-production is embedded throughout the Walsall Together programmes of work enabling the people and communities of Walsall to be at the heart of decision making and service transformation

Connie Jennings, Head of Health and Wellbeing for whg, said: “We were delighted to find out the partnership were successful in securing some funding to tackle health inequalities and social isolation in Walsall. We know that the key to great health and well-being is feeling valued by others and having a sense of belonging. Through our kindness counts programme we aim to find and support different ways for people to be kind to themselves and to others, building resilient communities that care and can count on each other.”