Health and Wellbeing strategy consultation
The Health and Social Care Act 2012 introduced Health and Wellbeing Boards and a mandatory duty for joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies. This enabled key leaders across the health and care system to work at a strategic level to improve the health and wellbeing of the people in their area, reduce health inequalities and set the foundations for promoting the integration of services.
Our new Health & Wellbeing Strategy sets out a number of key Ambitions and priorities over the next four years and this listening exercise is an opportunity for our residents, communities, partners and stakeholders to have their say in shaping the strategic direction of the health, wellbeing and care in the borough.
What are our Ambitions?
Our proposed Ambitions and Priorities are:
Ambition 1: Starting Well - Positive Beginnings for Babies, Children & Young People
- Improving immunisation through increased vaccination uptake.
- Better opportunities for those with special educational needs.
- Reducing obesity in children and promoting healthy eating.
- Supporting children and young people with mental health concerns.
Ambition 2: Living & Feeling Well - Building Resilience for Living & Wellbeing
- Partnership focus to support good mental health and wellbeing.
- Promoting opportunities for using community assets to improve health and wellbeing.
- Increasing employment opportunities to support poverty reduction.
- Supporting unpaid carers to undertake their roles and have good physical and mental health.
Ambition 3: Caring Well - Prevention & Care of Long-term Conditions
- Reducing the risk of long-term conditions from air pollution.
- Improve identification and management of hypertension.
- Reducing overweight and obesity in adults and promoting behaviour change.
- Supporting early diagnosis and management of dementia.
Running through each of our Ambitions are a number of ‘Golden Threads’. These are:
- Lifecycle prevention - by investing in services supporting pre-birth, early years and families, education and building and supporting aspiration, building emotional and mental wellbeing.
- Supporting unpaid carers is a priority for the Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC) and the Council - either as the person with the condition and/or looking after a person with a condition.
- Tackling inequalities head on by disproportionate investments in effort and resources into those communities with most need.
- Considering the impact of poverty and the cost of living on people’s health and care.
- Partnership working with Health & Care teams to promote flexibility - enabling person-centred services and a culture where staff across organisational boundaries to meet the changing needs of population.
Why these Ambitions?
These ambitions will provide a key focus for the areas in which we have identified where we can make a difference to improve outcomes for residents in supporting their health, care and wellbeing.
This does not mean however, that we will stop our work in other areas, but rather that it will provide a key focus on these areas to ensure that we can have a significant impact.
How can I engage?
Our main method of engagement is an online survey, available at the bottom of this page. You do not have to complete the entire survey. However, it would be good to have your feedback on all sections to help inform the Strategy.
If you require support to complete the survey (for example, the survey in another language) or have any questions regarding this consultation, please use the contact details available under the 'Who's Listening' section on the right hand side of this page.
This consultation will be available for 12 weeks until date 2024.
