The West London Alliance (WLA) is a sub-regional partnership that brings together 7 local authorities in an area of London that is extremely diverse. Formed in 1997 to collaborate and innovate to improve outcomes for economy and skills, social care and housing; yet it was in response to the Covid-19 pandemic that the Alliance sped up the need to address health inequalities and focus on the employment and skills agenda.

To deliver the roll out of Covid-19 vaccinations to over 2 million residents the NHS turned to the WLA for support.

In December 2020, the NHS was faced with the incredible challenge to recruit over 2,000 people to roll out the COVID Mass Vaccination across West London.

Case Study: West London Alliance Mass Covid Vaccination Roll Out

WLA developed an inclusive process that identified and connected with local organizations that could provide immediate support. The project focussed on people’s skills rather than backgrounds, removing elements of conventional NHS recruitment criteria and focussed on providing opportunities for a wide range of unemployed residents to maximise inclusivity.

  • 1,299 local people were employed – over 60% of people referred came from ethnic minority communities.

  • 750 had been directly affected by the economic impacts of COVID.

  • the NHS have been keen to retain these staff and have set a target of keeping 25% when the roll out finished.