Health & employment

Our work

Although not one of the initial Vanguard sites, NHS Sussex was awarded WorkWell leadership funding that was made available to all Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), and partnered with Health Innovation KSS to explore how a WorkWell service could be implemented locally. Using data-driven insights, we identified three initial transformation sites with contrasting geographies and populations: East Brighton, Hastings, and Crawley. Engaging with over 80 participants across health, employment, local authority, and community sectors, including those with lived experience, we conducted a deep dive of these communities to understand the current landscape, including the barriers to work that people with long-term health conditions or disabilities face. The main focus was on people experiencing poor mental health and/or musculoskeletal conditions, recognising these are the leading contributors to health-related economic inactivity.

We have developed a WorkWell Discovery Report that presents our findings, including recommendations and valuable insights from participants, to guide the development of a WorkWell initiative in the three transformation sites. We have also produced a Horizon Scan report that provides a comprehensive overview of the political, economic and social landscape affecting health-related economic inactivity. See resources section below.

We continue to provide oversight and project management support for NHS Sussex, and are supporting the implementation of the initiatives in all three transformation sites, with each using the tailored recommendations from the Deep Dive Report to implement a WorkWell intervention. We will be sharing the impact and learnings from this work in 2026.