Local school pupils' ideas on the future of the NHS brought to life in animated film

Animation credit: Innovation Lab | University of Central Lancashire

A few words of thanks to those involved in making this happen

Dr Amanda Thornton, Digital Health Clinical Lead for Healthier Lancashire and South Cumbria said: “We want to empower every person - young or old - to feel more confident and capable of making informed decisions about their health and wellbeing and technology is already playing an important part in supporting this.

We have been out in our local communities throughout the past year, listening to how we can make it easier for people to manage their own health and wellbeing online – whenever they want to and wherever they are. It was so inspiring to hear the thoughts and suggestions from the students at our Digital Healthy Schools event about how innovative technology could support people to live longer and healthier lives in the future. We would like to say a huge thank you to all of the schools and partner organisations involved in making the day such a success.”

Danny Livingstone, UCLan Innovation Lab Project Manager, said: “It was a really good experience for the Innovation Lab team to be involved with this Healthier Lancashire and South Cumbria project. I would like to thank Natalie for her help producing the animation, it was a pleasure working with an extremely talented recent graduate who has a bright future ahead.”

Animator Natalie Jeffers said “I graduated from my UCLan Animation degree in July 2018 and it has been the best three years of my life. My final year film (Skin Deep) was nominated for and won the Lancashire Arts Festival Media award and I was also awarded student of the year for Animation. I love to dream big, and it was such a pleasure working on this project with amazing people. It was also great to meet the bright young students who will grow to shape our future. I am so blessed to have been given this opportunity.”

Thank you to all the local schools who took part

We would like to say a huge thank you to all of the school pupils who contributed to the animation. Schools involved included:

• Witton Park Academy, Blackburn
• West End Primary School, Oswaldtwistle
• Blessed Trinity RC High School, Burnley
• Christ the King RC Primary School, Burnley
• Brindle St James’ C of E Primary School, Chorley
• The Deanery Church of England High School and Sixth Form College, Wigan
• Keswick School, Cumbria and
• Threlkeld C of E Primary School, Cumbria

About the Digital Healthy Schools programme

The event marked the successful culmination of the Digital Healthy Schools pilot education programme, rolled out by Healthier Lancashire and South Cumbria for more than one thousand pupils in twenty secondary schools across the region between December 2017 and May 2018. Through assemblies and hands-on workshops, pupils were encouraged to learn more about health conditions whilst exploring the topic of app development and app reviews in personal, social, health and economic education (PHSE) and science lessons.

Pupils were given advice on what to look for in an app around safety, data security and clinical effectiveness. They also had access to an app comparison site, which features apps evaluated against 150 criteria and suitable for children. The programme was devised and run by ORCHA, which is a leading health app evaluation and advisory organisation, home to the world’s biggest health app comparison site, and one of only two organisations responsible for reviewing health and care apps for the NHS Apps Library.

Our Digital Future

The Digital Healthy Schools programme is part of Our Digital Future, the digital strategy for Lancashire and South Cumbria.