Wellbeing Hubs and The Voluntary Sector: Places, Organisations And People

Dates

Thursday, July 4, 2019 - 12:30 to 15:30

Location

Seminar room 3, Open University Library, Walton Hall

Dr James Rees and Dr Rebecca Ince have recently conducted a scoping study into the involvement of the voluntary sector in Wellbeing Hubs in England, which have become an increasingly prominent part of the landscape of provision of welfare services. Wellbeing Hubs are a localised model in which a voluntary or community organisation acts as a central point of access or platform for access to a range of community services, support and social activities. The study sought to explore the drivers behind the proliferation of Wellbeing Hubs in the UK, understand the range of Hubs currently active or in development, and explore the effects Wellbeing Hubs have on the organisations involved, the communities they serve and the implications for further development of welfare services in the UK.

Sandpit Agenda

12:30 – 1:15pm           Welcome, tea and coffee, lunch.

1:15 – 1:30pm             Rebecca Ince and James Rees present findings from scoping study

1:30-1:45pm                Q&A about the findings

1:45-2:15pm                Priority setting – emerging questions for collaborative research around Health and Wellbeing Hubs and the voluntary sector. (Key themes, theoretical approaches)

2:15-2:45pm                How might we design research to know what effect Wellbeing Hubs are having? (JR/RI present different examples of ‘evidence’ from the Hubs)

2:45-3:15pm                To what extent do Wellbeing Hubs represent new models of service provision led by the voluntary sector?

3:15pm-3:30pm          Tea and coffee, farewell!

Themes

• Places and spaces – scales, territories, locations, buildings, physical hub locations vs metaphorical hubs e.g. phone service (materiality, assemblage)
• Organisations – roles, influence, funding, leadership (comparative advantage, mixed economy of health services, traditional/collaborative leadership)
• People – needs, resources, outcomes and effects

Attendance is open to everyone however, to help us with catering, please email Rebecca.ince@open.ac.uk if you plan to attend.