Putting partnership into practice: participatory wellbeing assessment on a south London housing estate

Bridging the gap between professionals and communities and establishing new forms of partnership is essential if service provision is to be made more responsive and accountable. This article describes an innovative approach to creating the basis for partnerships to address community wellbeing on an estate in south London.

Drawing on participatory appraisal and action planning methods, and drawing together residents and professionals within and beyond the health service, a participatory wellbeing assessment exercise was carried out on a housing estate with a population of around 6,000 people, involving just under 10% of residents.

The participatory wellbeing assessment exercise served as a means of seeking to bridge different perceptions, priorities and perspectives on wellbeing and forge new relationships, alliances and partnerships for change. Creating this vehicle for change also created opportunities for local people to participate in community wellbeing issues. This, in turn, strengthened connections between health policy, provision and grassroots community health development, broadening opportunities for service responsiveness and citizen involvement.

Broadening involvement in assessing and determining priorities for improving wellbeing can serve to do more than enable citizens to engage more directly in making and shaping the policies that affect their lives. It can also serve as a way of establishing new kinds of partnerships across and within the statutory and non-statutory services, opening up space for new, more 'joined up' forms of work that help to bridge the gap between citizens and services.