Title

HEALTH

The NHS must harness the strengths of districts

Cllr John Fuller says that while the NHS delivers the vaccinations, districts can 'help shape the ecosystem, build trust through familiar settings, bring in hard to reach communities', and more - 'a partnership in place'.

The vaccination programme is ramping up at pace, it's a national strategy needing local delivery, needing partnership in place.

District councils working for their 20 million residents are key players on the vaccination programme pitch. We're trusted deliverers, we're rooted in the communities across our villages, towns and cities. We can harness a breadth of our physical and social assets, from our football teams to village halls, from our community and faith groups to street champions.

As a recent report from Grant Thornton demonstrated, Districts are practical collaborators, delivery agents and system leaders. Where big government and centralised control have struggled under challenging circumstances, Districts have continued to be the first line of local accountability, support and protection for the communities and businesses they serve.

Ministers have often recognised this, asking we play the lead role in making sure rough sleepers access vaccinations. These are among the most vulnerable in our communities, we know them, we can reach out to them, supporting and encouraging them to receive the vaccine.

The NHS must now also harness our strengths. While it delivers the vaccinations, we can shape the ecosystem, build trust through familiar settings, bring in hard to reach communities, mobilise voluntary groups, set up community transport, and more - a partnership in place.  

Collaboration is communication. The NHS must help us help them, sharing with us their aspirations, plans and, crucially, the data, so that we can get our communities to rally behind them to make the greatest success of the vaccination programme. The future of the country depends on it.

Cllr John Fuller OBE is chairman of the District Councils' Network

@JohnFullerOBE

HEALTH

Local government needs genuine devo

By Louise Gittins | 25 July 2025

The Local Government Association 'supports devolution where governance is local by default, with built-in subsidiarity and accountability', says Louise Gittins.

HEALTH

This transformation is a time for pragmatism and vision

By Gill Kneller | 24 July 2025

It is a deliberate programme of sustained and ongoing cultural change that will make local government reform sustainable, cohesive and impactful, argues Gill...

HEALTH

Recruiting for complexity

By Rebecca Davis | 23 July 2025

Rebecca Davis discusses why we need to hire minds, not just hands, and looks at some examples of how this strategy has been approached within the West Midlands.

HEALTH

Central government must ease its grip

By Florence Eshalomi | 23 July 2025

Councils must have more power to control their own affairs - accountable not to Westminster in the first instance, but to their own local electorates, says F...