EURO 2025 Leeds
Abstract Submission

1735. Developing systems thinking capability in Welsh public services – early learnings from the Shaping Places in Well-being in Wales programme

Invited abstract in session TC-50: Systems Thinking 1, stream Systems Thinking.

Tuesday, 12:30-14:00
Room: Parkinson B11

Authors (first author is the speaker)

1. Christian Heathcote-Elliott
2. Emily Woodward-Esseen
Public Health Wales

Abstract

In Wales, the Well-being of Future Generations Act (2015) has established multi-agency Public Services Boards (PSB) to improve the economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being of their locality, contributing to seven well-being goals, including a healthier and fairer Wales.

Improving population health and well-being is a complex challenge involving multiple stakeholders, many interrelated elements, uncertainty and potential trade-offs between policy initiatives.

The Health Foundation funded Shaping Places for Well-being in Wales is a national three-year programme which aims to develop systems thinking capability in PSB to understand and act on strengthening the social, economic and environmental building blocks of health and well-being. The programme has established three learning groups with representation from 11 PSB. Each learning group is focusing on one area of interest: healthy inclusive transport, participation in fair work, or skills for a just green transition.

Participants in the learning groups are being guided through a flexible Applied Systems Thinking Approach comprising of a series of activities which focus on defining system boundaries, systems mapping and analysis, describing the desired change, and evaluating system changes.

This presentation will outline the design phase of the programme, implementation challenges, opportunities and how the programme is being adapted as part of an ongoing contribution analysis evaluation.

Keywords

Status: accepted

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