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Local school pupils’ ideas on the future of the NHS brought to life in animated film

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In July 2018, students from schools across Lancashire and Cumbria took part in Healthier Lancashire and South Cumbria’s Digital Healthy Schools event at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) in Preston.

As part of the celebrations of the 70th birthday of the NHS, local school pupils were asked for their ideas about what the NHS might look like in 70 years’ time. Their vision for the future of the NHS has now been brought to life in a short animation. You can watch the animation at healthierlsc.co.uk/animation

Using the voices of local children to narrate the film, the sketch-style animation was created by recent UCLan BA Hons Animation graduate Natalie Jeffers, with support from the university’s Innovation Lab team.

Dr Amanda Thornton, Digital Health Clinical Lead for Healthier Lancashire and South Cumbria said: “We want to empower every person – young or old – to feel more confident and capable of making informed decisions about their health and wellbeing and technology is already playing an important part in supporting this.

We have been out in our local communities throughout the past year, listening to how we can make it easier for people to manage their own health and wellbeing online – whenever they want to and wherever they are. It was so inspiring to hear the thoughts and suggestions from the students at our Digital Healthy Schools event about how innovative technology could support people to live longer and healthier lives in the future. We would like to say a huge thank you to all of the schools and partner organisations involved in making the day such a success.”

Danny Livingstone, UCLan Innovation Lab Project Manager, said: “It was a really good experience for the Innovation Lab team to be involved with this Healthier Lancashire and South Cumbria project. I would like to thank Natalie for her help producing the animation, it was a pleasure working with an extremely talented recent graduate who has a bright future ahead.”

Natalie Jeffers said “I graduated from my UCLan Animation degree in July 2018 and it has been the best three years of my life. My final year film (Skin Deep) was nominated for and won the Lancashire Arts Festival Media award and I was also awarded student of the year for Animation. I love to dream big, and it was such a pleasure working on this project with amazing people. It was also great to meet the bright young students who will grow to shape our future. I am so blessed to have been given this opportunity.”

Schools involved in the creation of the animation include: Witton Park Academy, Blackburn; West End Primary School, Oswaldtwistle; Blessed Trinity RC High School, Burnley; Christ the King RC Primary School, Burnley; Brindle St James’ C of E Primary School, Chorley; The Deanery Church of England High School and Sixth Form College, Wigan; Keswick School, Cumbria and Threlkeld C of E Primary School, Cumbria.

The event marked the successful culmination of the Digital Healthy Schools pilot education programme, rolled out by Healthier Lancashire and South Cumbria for more than one thousand pupils in twenty secondary schools across the region between December 2017 and May 2018. Through assemblies and hands-on workshops, pupils were encouraged to learn more about health conditions whilst exploring the topic of app development and app reviews in personal, social, health and economic education (PHSE) and science lessons.

Pupils were given advice on what to look for in an app around safety, data security and clinical effectiveness. They also had access to an app comparison site, which features apps evaluated against 150 criteria and suitable for children. The programme was devised and run by ORCHA, which is a leading health app evaluation and advisory organisation, home to the world’s biggest health app comparison site, and one of only two organisations responsible for reviewing health and care apps for the NHS Apps Library.

To find out about the work of Healthier Lancashire and South Cumbria, visit: www.healthierlsc.co.uk

 

The animation can be viewed at the following links: healthierlsc.co.uk/animation or at youtu.be/LB9F2lNmBwE

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