Nearly 100 people, including West Ham legends Anton Ferdinand and Matt Jarvis, gathered at London Stadium earlier this month to celebrate and strengthen the relationship between Club Community Organisations (CCOs), the NHS and other groups such as city councils.
Led by the CEO of West Ham United Foundation, Joseph Lyons, and the Vice President of Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Pedro Delgado, the event aimed to spark conversation and ignite future partnership opportunities for CCOs to collaborate with service providers to help achieve the best possible population health for London and beyond.
Guests included Caroline Clarke, Regional Director for the NHS in London, and representatives from city councils, health providers and the 17 London CCOs.
Discussions were centred around future innovation and aspirational prevention to some of society’s most serious health problems.
In a welcoming address, Lyons reflected on the Foundation’s partnership with the NHS which began in 2015 with a programme aimed at tackling high rates of Type 2 Diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
In his speech, Lyons shared how the Foundation’s work addressing health needs in east London has evolved enormously since then and supported by data and evidence, there is a proven record on how crucial collaboration can be in aiding a strategy of prevention; helping to address prevalent issues and delivering city-wide programmes to improve Londoners’ lives.
With London United’s cohort spanning the breadth of London, partnership working with health providers has now progressed across a range of programmes including the likes of the Advantage Mentoring scheme, which piloted in north-east London through West Ham United, Arsenal and Leyton Orient, supporting the mental health of young people.
As part of West Ham United’s Players’ Project, former players Ferdinand and Jarvis joined activities across the day, which involved networking at the stadium and a fun, friendly football match at Bobby Moore Academy, a stone’s throw away, where the legends took on the roles of team managers.
“It’s an incredible initiative for everyone to come down and get involved and it’s fantastic to be involved in this amazing community that we have around here,” said Jarvis.
With football and sport acting as a hook to bring the guests together, he continued: “I’ve been privileged to do what I’ve done in my football career, so now to meet people in completely different worlds and share our same love for football whilst bringing the community together is fantastic.”
In a closely contested match, the Health United team managed by Ferdinand won 5-4 against Jarvis’ London United.
Following the match, Ferdinand said: “What wins from this match is the community. I think it’s fantastic that a size five ball right down to a size two depending on your age can be so powerful at bringing people together.
“Everyone needs the NHS at some point in their lives, and it’s great that today football has been able to unite people from the NHS with CCOs to share experiences.
“I don’t take these kinds of days lightly and you don’t see it so much when you’re playing, but I’m so proud that now I’m not playing I can be a big part of it.”
Whilst post-match discussions reflected on the action on the pitch, thoughtful conversations and optimism for future relationships remained at the core of the day.
Lyons stated: “Our connections with colleagues today within the NHS only continue to strengthen.
“Coming together as a collaborative network, building greater relationships, and growing a trusted partnership takes time and energy, something we saw in abundance throughout the event.
“The job is to now focus on core programming and impactful preventative provisions that really work, and we will now look forward to develop new, innovative and aspirational prevention solutions to some of society’s most serious health problems - London United and London NHS is a true collaboration.”
Lyons worked closely with Delgado in order to organise the event and was thrilled with what their collaborative work was able to achieve.
Speaking after the match, Delgado said: “The match between London United and Health United was testament to the potential of football to build bridges across individuals and organisations in service of best possible health for all.
“Improving population health with and for communities will take an ever-increasing set of active stakeholders collaborating to co-create innovative solutions, and to continuously learn, iterate and improve over time.”
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