The rising cost of living is affecting millions of people across the UK. In recognition of the role the NHS can play in creating ‘good quality work’, NHS anchors in London are increasing their efforts to become London Living Wage employers. This blog outlines the work underway across London as part of Living Wage Week 2022.

Oli Fletcher, HALN member, Learning Set participant of Somerset Integrated Care System and Cody Hyland of Somerset NHS Foundation Trust share their experiences of running Sector Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs).

More than two years after the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent Black Lives Matter movements across the globe, we continue to have important conversations about racial inequality - but how can anchor organisations translate this to meaningful action?

Dr Bob Klaber, Consultant Paediatrician and Director of Strategy, Research and Innovation at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (ICHT) talks about the work ICHT has undertaken as an anchor institution.

The NHS has a unique opportunity to support the most socially excluded people in our society through its service provision and its role as an anchor institution. However more could be done to optimise the impact of its anchor role.

When we first launched the Health Anchors Learning Network (HALN) back in February 2021, we’d been tasked by The Health Foundation and NHS England and NHS Improvement to answer some important questions about anchor work.

HALN is nearly one year old - and over the past 12 months we’ve been bringing together thousands of people from across the UK with responsibility for, or an interest in, anchor work.