BackgroundThe pandemic provides us with a teachable moment – inequalities were exacerbated and now comes the time to understand what transpired in the approaches deployed in crisis, and the ...implications for a ‘new normal’ in public and community welfare services arrangements . Much of the research literature on community hub interventions focusses on certain topics, such as food; social prescribing; or population subgroups such as older people. Effects have been evaluated on individual diet and BMI outcomes but not on their place in, and impact on, the broader welfare ecosystem.In Gateshead, redeployed local authority, voluntary sector staff, and community volunteers organised emergency relief supported by a central food distribution site and a virtual call centre. As the pandemic unfolded, the emergency response evolved into responding to broader welfare needs.MethodsThis paper will present on findings of a study of emergency relief hubs which operated from March 2020 – March 2022. The aim was to maximise learning from the pandemic and co-create knowledge to shape locally sensitive and sustainable service redevelopment, informed by key concepts of co-production and Human Learning Systems (French, Hesselgreaves et al. 2023). It combines semi-structured resident interviews (n=19); observations of community centres where hubs operated (n= 32 hours); a co-led resident’s workshop (n=3 hours, 12 participants) and four practitioner workshops (n= 45 participants).ResultsOur early findings are divided into resident and practitioner perspectives. In relation to practitioners, indicative themes highlighted the particularities of hyper-local implementation modalities; absence of infrastructure; blurred boundaries between roles in flattened authorising environments; the challenges navigating residents complex lives; and anxieties around their post-pandemic capabilities.Residents uniformly viewed hubs as positive and supportive, centred on responsiveness in terms of timeliness, fairness, and care - creating ‘breathing space’ during tough times; that little things mattered, e.g., asking how are you?, adding treats into food parcels for children, and support with navigating services. Nonetheless, the diverse ways residents accessed the hub was effected by low levels of awareness of their existence. And for some, stigma associated with asking for help impacted when they sought assistance.ConclusionWe consider what might be learnt about locality-based action, the interdependencies that emerged under extreme conditions, and how the experiences of those involved has lessons for local authorities facing significant inequalities, further exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis.
I Dream of Animals During the Pandemic Cheung, M. Cynthia
JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association,
02/2021, Volume:
325, Issue:
5
Journal Article
PDF
