To receive a presentation from the Director of Culture and Neighbourhood Services on how they are working towards the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy.
Minutes:
The Director of Culture and Neighbourhood Services gave a presentation on how the department was working towards the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy. A copy of the presentation notes was circulated to members with the agenda.
In addition to the comments contained in the presentation notes the following statements and comments were noted:-
a) The department was responsible for Arts and Museums services, libraries, community services and sports.
b) Health and wellbeing is a key part of the activities in culture and community services which contributed to people being happier, healthier and wealthier through creative industries and strong cultural centres like Curve and King Richard III Centre.
c) The department worked closely with public health particularly in relation to sport and physical activity.
d) The department worked to the World Health Organisation’s definition that ‘health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.’
e) There were over 2m users of sports and leisure facilities, 78% of which were from city residents. 38% of users were on lower incomes, 52% were women and 40% were from the BME communities.
f) Only 19.7% of adults took part in the sport and physical activity for 30 minutes three times a week; and only 33% of adults took part once a week. These were below the national averages of 26% and 36% respectively. However, the city performed better than cities with similar demographics such as Luton, Barking and Dagenham.
g) The lack of physical; activity was estimated to cost Leicester approximately £5.9m each year in healthcare, premature deaths and sickness absences. It was also estimated that at the current participation rates the value of exercise was £121m in costs avoided through improved quality of health.
h) There were 1.2m attendances at cultural and heritage venues involving 331 volunteers. There were 86,000 active library users with 27,000 children taking part in under 5’s sessions. 93% of library users were from the City.
i) The department services integrated the 5 Ways to Wellbeing concept into its planning delivery (i.e Connect – Be Active – Take Notice – Keep Learning and Give).
j) The department also played an important role in raising aspiration, reputation and profile of the city and this had an impact upon wellbeing. The success of the Curve, attracting John Lewis Partnership to the Highcross, major private sector investment, partnership work with Leicester City Football Club in numerous events and attracting funds for a project for looked after children, mentoring and multi-sport, and providing the infrastructure support to attract Kasabian to play in the city were all examples of the benefits of wellbeing for residents. The Dave Comedy Festival was also worth £2m annually to the local economy.
k) A number of initiatives, activities and projects organised by the department to support and engage neighbourhoods and communities were outlined to the Board.
l) 4 case studies on the following initiatives were outlined to the Board, details of which are in the presentation attached:-
Football Investment – a partnership project with significant funding from the previous Primary Care Trust, in which over £11m has been invested in the city’s sporting infrastructure to transform grassroots football and encourage more people to get fit and active.
Active Lifestyle Scheme – a joint funded project between Sports Services and Public Health taking referrals from health professionals for a range of health conditions from cardiac rehabilitation of patients to people who smoke or have family conditions. Patients are entitled to 6 months free usage of leisure facilities and whilst referrals were high retention in exercise was low. Sports Services were currently working with Public Health and the NICE guidance to change the system or offer to patients.
Get Healthy, Get Into Sport – a joint funded project between the Council, Sport England and Public Health which focuses on one area of the city where health was highlighted as being particularly poor, with higher than average levels of obesity, CVD and early mortality. Participants were offered 6 weeks of mentoring by a personal trainer, 6 months of free access to a leisure facility, the opportunity to bring a friend to encourage participation and a choice of free sports opportunities.
Culture and Neighbourhoods activity – a number of initiatives involving dementia awareness in museums, breast feeding friendly scheme in Arts and Museums venues and Community Centres, and health focused events in libraries, including displays, stands, themed story-telling and books on prescription where health professionals recommend a self-help book as part of a patient’s treatment. The books are borrowed from local libraries and all libraries participated in the scheme.
Following the presentation Board members commented that:-
a) There was an opportunity for the lifestyle hub to be developed and extended to signpost and refer people to a number of the services provided by the department. The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) could also easily be adapted to increase signposting and provide a pathway to other services. These could be achieved at relatively small costs.
b) It was recognised that the opportunities available were not just focused on physical outputs but there were health and wellbeing benefits to be derived from initiatives such as apprenticeships and those initiatives which improved a person’s confidence as these also led to long term benefits.
c) Although an individual assessment of a single initiative may only show a small benefit, the cumulative impact and effect of a number of initiatives taken together was often overlooked.
d) Promotional displays, especially TVs in GP surgeries could also promote the opportunities that were available.
e) It would be helpful if patients referred by their GP for physical activities could book their sessions directly at the GP surgery rather than be referred by the GP and it then take some time for the referral to take effect.
RESOLVED:
That the Director be thanked for an informative and stimulating presentation and that the issues raised in the discussion be considered further by the Department.