Models of integrated health and care services for young people in coastal regions

What works, for whom, in what circumstances, how and why?
Parents and children in a community meeting

Models of integrated health and care services for young people in coastal regions

What works, for whom, in what circumstances, how and why?
Title: Integrated models of community service delivery for children and young people in coastal regions of England: a realist evaluation
Funded by: NIHR
Funding amount: £983,398
Location: England
Dates: February 2025 – July 2027
Project partners: University of Lincoln, University of Manchester, University of Warwick, Torbay Council, representatives from Kent County Council, Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust, Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, and members of the public with expertise by experience
University of Plymouth PI and Co-I: Professor Sheena Asthana (PI); Professor Sally Kendal, University of Kent (Co-I)
 
Children and young people (CYP) in England experience some of the poorest health outcomes and services in Europe, with health inequalities particularly marked between the north and south of the country and especially in the coastal areas of England where deprivation is high. 
Social determinants of health, such as housing, education, access to services, infrastructure, employment and social mobility play an important part in CYP's lives. There are also uneven numbers of children in care or young people leaving care in some coastal areas.This project will explore how integrated community service delivery models (ICSMs) in coastal areas across England affect the experiences and health consequences for CYP and their families and how delivery models can be enhanced to keep CYP well, improving health and social care.   
With CYP's experience at the heart of the study, the researchers will take a realist approach to building a model of integrated health and care services for CYP that work for them in coastal contexts and different circumstances. This will address gaps in knowledge around how such models impact the experiences, lives and health consequences for children and young people.
The study is guided by advisory groups of young people aged between 11 and 18 years old and parents/carers living in coastal towns in England who have experience of their local services.
Through working together across the life of the study, these advisory groups will ensure the work is useful, makes sense to and has value for CYP, their families and the services they need in coastal communities. After taking part in local research skills training, our young advisers will also have the chance to test out their new skills as part of the study.
The project team will use realist evaluation methods to provide a way of understanding which coastal community service models work for CYP, and under what circumstances, as well as undertaking a scoping review of the existing evidence. It is hoped the findings will provide evidence for policy and service organisation, to help to establish how integrated community service models can be best delivered to help to improve the health and social care of children and young people and their families living in coastal areas in England.
 
 
 

Objectives

The project aims to determine:
  • What models of health and care services exist for CYP in coastal areas, how well they are connected and how they work
  • How these service models are accessed and attended, and what helps or interferes with CYP getting the support they need
  • How CYP and their families experience their local coastal health and care service models
  • What difference being able to access community health and care services makes for CYP's health in coastal areas
  • What are the costs and benefits of having health and care services working together in ways designed to benefit CYP in coastal areas.

There is growing awareness of deep inequalities between coastal and non-coastal parts of England with respect to the challenges facing children and young people.

We hope that understanding how the many services designed to support this group can be better coordinated should not only improve quality and access but, by making better use of the resources available, ensure that no young person is failed by the system.

Sheena AsthanaProfessor Sheena Asthana
Professor

Centre for Coastal Communities

Finding solutions to the challenges facing coastal communities
The University of Plymouth is one of the few UK Higher Education Institutions with a critical mass of academics with a proven track record of research on coastal communities. The Centre for Coastal Communities brings together researchers looking at coastal economic performance, deprivation, migration, educational underperformance, displaced populations, health and social care, the blue economy (renewable energy, fisheries, aquaculture, tourism, recreation and leisure), plastic pollution and economic, social and environmental policy for coastal communities.
 
Fishing nets