Good health and wellbeing 2023
Learning and students
The University is a major contributor to teaching and learning, research and knowledge exchange in health. In 2021/22, 1,771 graduates were in the health professions (28%), an increase from 2020/21 when the number was 1,231 (24%).
Public and Business Engagement
We have current local collaborations with a range of health partners, e.g. Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust, Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, & Locala Health and Wellbeing (Locala Community Partnerships CIC). National health collaborations include those with our Skin Integrity and Infection Prevention Institute, e.g. Salford Royal NHS Trust and Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust. Global Collaborations include those via our Skin Integrity and Infection Prevention Institute, with Vienna, Tel Aviv, Dublin and New Zealand, and through healthcare industry partners including URGO, HARTMANN, Mölnlycke, etc.
We deliver outreach programmes and projects in the local community to improve or promote health and well-being. The University runs an award-winning Podiatry Clinic, which serves the needs of members of the public and provides much needed placement opportunities for students. Our THRIVE telehealth service has been established in conjunction with partners Age UK Wakefield and Aspire and is based on the work of Occupational Therapy & Physiotherapy students. Students work in interdisciplinary pairs with participants by video link, using a health coaching approach to support participants to identify goals and devise intervention plans. The University has pioneered a system of pop-up health clinics, monitoring issues such as blood pressure and sight loss, and serving 100s of members of the public in the local area, carried out under supervision by healthcare students in markets, community centres, schools and at community events such as lunchtime music concerts. The clinics reflect the University’s particular commitment to supporting people with lower health outcomes or socio-economic disadvantages.
Sport is an important contributor to health and well-being. The University of Huddersfield has an on-campus Sports Centre including a Sports Hall, Gym, and Dance Studio. The University makes these facilities available to the public through partnerships for example with England Netball who have used the Sports Hall on a regular basis, and Rugby League Cares, the charitable arm of the Rugby League. Both are examples of partnerships which are very extensive and include a range of measures to enhance participation, building from e.g. the exploitation of the resources held in each sport’s archives preserved in the University’s archives, at Heritage Quay.
Volleyball in the Sports Hall.Impact for students
In the important field of sexual and reproductive health-care services, the University Health Centre provides free access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including information and education services, under the National Health Service. Education and support is also provided free through the University’s Student Services, and through the University of Huddersfield Students’ Union. Each run regular awareness campaigns around sexual health and wellbeing issues.
The University provides free access to mental health support. It offers a counselling service within its Student Services, and there is a Wellbeing service which employs qualified professionals. The University Health Centre also provides access to mental health services through the NHS, free of charge.
The campus of the University is smoke-free and there is no smoking in any building on the campus. There is no provision of ‘smoking shelters’ or equivalent, and where buildings are located near public rights of way, highways etc, signage clearly indicates that smoking should not occur within 5m of the access points to the buildings.