UN SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

Overview

Good health is a challenge for many inhabitants of Lincolnshire. The county faces the challenges of a highly dispersed rural population alongside coastal communities with high levels of chronic illness and co-morbidities. These challenges are exacerbated by local difficulties in recruiting healthcare professionals. This is why, following our commitment to nursing, pharmacy, and a wide range of other health professions, we established a medical school to train doctors in partnership with the University of Nottingham. 

Our Lincoln International Institute for Rural Health was also set up to meet the needs of our dispersed and health-challenged rural populations.  It conducts world-class interdisciplinary research to address the most challenging health issues facing rural and coastal communities locally, nationally, and internationally. Their aim is to 'shine a light' on the unacceptable place-based health inequities across the rural-urban divide and to find innovative ways of reducing or ideally eliminating that inequality.

The institute brings together world-leading specialists, conducting research across a range of rural health related concerns, ranging from oral health, cancer care, infectious disease epidemiology, HIV, mental health through to sustainable remote health care delivery solutions, place-based community–engaged methods, meta-governance approaches, and m-health technological innovation.

In 2021/22 468 students graduated from our Nursing, Midwifery, Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Science, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, and Paramedic Science courses, ultimately boosting healthcare professional numbers in our region. In addition to working with relevant professional bodies and the NHS, many of these courses were set up in collaboration with local businesses, such as our Pharmacy course and the Lincolnshire Co-op, helping to provide further positive impact on our local community.

Community and Health Research (CaHRU)

There is wide range of healthcare related research at the University of Lincoln, and our academic community is involved in a number of research groups. In particular, is the Community and Health Research Unit whose mission is to increase people’s health and wellbeing by improving the quality, performance, and systems of care across the health, social, and third sector care services through their world-leading interdisciplinary research. Their work promotes high-quality care to enhance the experience, safety, effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of healthcare by examining and transforming the performance and function of health and social care practice, organisation, and delivery. The aim of their work is to engage service users, carers, practitioners, managers, commissioners, and policymakers in our research activities whilst maximising the impact of our research by responding to service priorities, working with service users and care organisations to embed research findings into practice through a variety of media.

Global Impact

We engage with a number of research areas and project which aim to make a global impact on health and wellbeing. Examples of this research are in areas such as malaria, where we are working with policy makers and healthcare professionals to provide better insight into the locations where malaria will be problematic in the face of global climate change. Another collaborative research project aims to tackle the high death toll in infants from communicable diseases which are largely treatable in wealthier countries. Taking a welfare orientated approach, the Mobile Arts for Peace project worked in Rwanda to use digital, art-based workshops to facilitate social and community cohesion and mental health provision.

Supporting Good Health on Campus

Our students benefit from an on-campus GP surgery alongside dedicated Student Wellbeing and Student Support Teams who are active in promoting health to our students and supporting them when they are not well. Our Wellbeing Team provides innovative and dedicated support for students before they arrive as well as while they are with us, as well as having very strong links to other community support services such as the police. Our innovative partnerships with the National Health Service and Lincolnshire Police allow us to provide seamless support to students who may be dealing with mental health difficulties or mental and physical abuse. Our Wellbeing Team have also provided evidence to the UK parliament on best practice to support students who may have experienced sexual abuse or drinks spiking.