We work together to help build the economy and support sustainable growth.
This priority aims to maximise the opportunities for social and economic development, including environmental sustainability and economic growth, through all partners working together.
Our aims
This includes:
- Developing the NHS providers as Anchor Institutions to support social and economic development for our residents. A report by the Centre for Local Economic Studies from March 2023 set out recommendations for BLMK ICS healthcare anchor institutions.
- Developing and delivering the ICS’s approach to environmental sustainability, including delivery of the net zero NHS commitments.
- Developing skills in the local population and support employment pathways for local people to achieve increased employment levels and higher quality employment for local people,
- Developing the ICS’s approach to research and development, including encouraging and incentivising investment in research in BLMK.
- A more sustainable approach to procurement, taking into account social and environmental factors.
- Identifying opportunities to work together across health and housing services to help support people to live healthily in their own homes.
- Maximising the potential growth opportunities for BLMK through the Oxford-Cambridge Pan-Regional Partnership.
This priority takes account of the wider determinants of health in affecting people’s health outcomes: environmental issues impact on health and wellbeing; economic disadvantage is strongly associated with smoking, obesity, diabetes and hypertension; and poor housing is associated with many preventable diseases, with the cost to the NHS estimated at £1.4 billion per year.
Environmental Sustainability and the BLMK ICS Green Plan
Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board (BLMK ICB) published its Green Plan in 2022 with a vision to achieve net-zero within the region by 2035 through greater collaboration and partnership across institutions – 5 years ahead of the NHS target of 2040.
Access our pages on environmental sustainability to learn about our vision and what we’re doing to move towards net zero, and download our latest Green Plan and associated Health Impact Assessment.
