Integrated Women’s Health Co-development Workshop - Dr Emily Rowe, Dr Beck Taylor, Prof Graeme Currie

In this project, Warwick Business School (WBS) & Warwick Medical School (WMS), partnered with the Coventry & Warwickshire Integrated Care Board (ICB), to conduct a systems-based participatory research study to support the strategic planning and implementation of women’s integrated health and care across the Coventry & Warwickshire Integrated Care System (ICS).

The study supports this through: (1) engaging women to address health inequalities and design inclusive, equitable services and (2) coordinating services and continuity of care through effective clinical governance. In this wider study, we will scope the opportunities, challenges, and factors affecting the context, readiness, capacity to integrate women’s health services, through interviews with clinical leaders, care providers, and system stakeholders; and PPIE activities with women’s groups across the region.

We sought funding through the Spotlight Small Grant Scheme 2024-2025, to host an interdisciplinary stakeholder workshop at a Warwick Conference Centre, which brings together clinical and systems leaders, where we prioritize identified opportunities and challenges and co-develop research questions related to the coordination and implementation of integrated women's health and care in the Coventry & Warwickshire ICS.

Intended vs Actual Outcomes

When applying to this funding scheme, we expected this workshop to:

1. Bring together key system leaders, clinicians, and care providers across the region together, we provide space to discuss priorities and opportunities collectively, to improve the coordination of women’s care.

a) This goal was achieved through a three-hour workshop (agenda provided below), where we shared details on the current state of Women’s health and integration in the region. To extract the key issues and concerns of system stakeholders, we engaged in thoughtful discussions related to the:

• Tensions between national and local priorities for Women’s Health & Care
• Key Components to Promote Integration and Improve Women’s Health & Care in Coventry & Warwickshire
• Challenges faced regarding Leadership and Collaborations for Women’s Health
• Key Areas & Actions to Address Inequalities and Improve Integration across the region.

b) There were dedicated note-takers at each table and for each discussion segment, the “1-2-4-All” engagement approach was used where participants were given: one minute to reflect on each question and make notes, two minutes to discuss in pairs, four minutes to discuss as a group, and five minutes to share common ideas and themes with everyone in the room. This approach was inclusive and insightful, as each participant was given the opportunity to share their views, while engaging the whole group to discuss a common topic.

2. Produce bite-sized research outputs will be circulated among women’s community groups, key stakeholders via ICB, WBS, WMS, University of Warwick’s websites and selected social media outlets.

This outcome is currently in progress, with interviews and data collection still ongoing within the wider study. We are also planning to develop a WBS Core Insights piece, which will be co-authored with a practitioner to consolidate some of findings, as the challenges raised in Women’s Health & Care workshop, share similarities faced by other local commissioners and clinical leaders who seek to reconcile local needs with national priorities.

3. Act as a capstone that consolidates our interview and PPI work, synthesizing insights into a report to inform the strategic planning and implementation of the Coventry & Warwickshire Women’s Health Strategy.

The workshop did not serve as a capstone, as interviews and PPI work are still in progress. This situation arose due to funding timelines and significant changes in the national and local health and care landscape, which led to adjustments in the initial timelines of the wider project to accommodate the evolving scope and availability of ICB and local partners.

4. Establish a systems-based research collaborative for women’s health research in Coventry & Warwickshire, in collaboration with the Warwick Institute of Translational Medicine Women’s Health Mission, to address fragmentation and inequalities in women’s health and care.

We are currently exploring this outcome, as there was a strong desire during the workshop to continue discussions and engagement. Some potential research ideas and activities were shared with academic partners. We plan to pursue this through a collaboration with the WBS Centre for Health and Care Research (COHCR), organising meetings, gatherings, and future workshops through COHCR.

5. Contribute to future external funding bids to the NIHR Health Service Delivery Research (HSDR) or Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) with our regional neighbours and partners in the NIHR ARC WM, Health of Women theme.

We still intend to seek external funding; however, as the wider research study is ongoing, we will address this goal after consolidating the findings and concluding the study.

As a result of the workshop, conducted in July 2025 (now Aug 2025), some potential collaborations and projects are currently being explored:

1. A clinical lead expressed interest in WBS conducting a non-clinical evaluation of Primary Care Gynaecology services, related to scaling the delivery of services to deliver the NHS 10 Year Plan and “shifting care closer to homes and communities”.

2. A public health consultant shared a research idea related to the development of robust business cases for health and care purposes.

3. As previously mentioned, several participants expressed their interest and desire to partner with academics to pursue research activities, both related and unrelated to the integration of women’s health and care across the region. Viable research activities related to Women’s Health will be explored by COHCR, while others are being discussed with relevant academics.

Two outputs are currently under development:

1. A workshop report is currently being written to consolidate the themes and topics discussed.

2. A WBS Core Insights thought leadership piece is currently being discussed, which will be co-authored with a WMS and practitioner partners.