The London Health Creation Spring Festival: Regenerating ourselves, our systems, our world, was the third in a trilogy of festivals emanating from an informal network of leaders committed to a vision of health equity through health creation also known as ‘blue/green/social prescribing’. It was a collaboration between the NHS North East London (NEL) Clinical Commissioning Group, HEE NEL Training Hub, Bromley by Bow, The Greener Practice London, QMUL Creative Enquiry and the RCGP NEL Faculty.

In many areas in which we work the environment is unfair, patients consult more, are often less enabled after consultations and healthcare teams are left more stressed. 

Our leadership task now is to own the problems which face us around how race(ism) and place determine our health outcomes and how our communities have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 Syndemic.  Some of our children grow up with the worst air quality in London and many families suffer from fuel poverty and depend on food banks.   

This Health Creation Festival marks the late emergence from Covid-19 and has focused on moving from trauma to healing through health creation. This is through regenerating ourselves, our systems, and our world. We are rooted in a trauma informed approach which asks the question ‘what is strong with us, our systems, our world?’ rather than ‘what is wrong with us/ our systems/ our world?’

The first festival occurred on the anniversary of the pandemic in February 2021 and aimed to restore hope story by story.  The second coincided with early emergence from the COVID-19 Syndemic in October 2021 and focused on harvesting sustainable seeds of change. 

The festivals have marked key moments in the COVID-19 Syndemic and organically matched the emotional recovery and resilience of what health and care has learnt from other disasters