Agenda item

The Director of Public Health to submit a report on the Draft Health, Wellbeing and Prevention Strategy.

The Director of Public Health submitted a report on the Draft Health, Wellbeing and Prevention Strategy which would succeed the previous Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy ‘Closing the Gap’. 

The draft strategy had been developed through informal engagement within the city council and local NHS. The strategy set out a framework for prevention in the city across 5 key themes and provisionally identified bodies to take responsibility for moving forward particular elements of the strategy, led by the Health and Wellbeing Board.  The key themes, responsible bodies and their responsibilities would need to be confirmed.  Implementation of the strategy would be supported through an annual action plan

Public engagement on the Strategy was provisionally planned for May.  A one-page public facing version of the Strategy would also be prepared for the final version.  The strategy had 5 key themes:-

• Healthy Start – covering maternity, ante-natal and childhood services.

• Healthy Lives – covering lifestyle factors and helping people to live healthier lives

• Healthy Minds – mental health and wellbeing and good services and community provision for people with low level mental health concerns to prevent them becoming more acute

• Healthy Ageing – reducing isolation and helping people live longer and healthier for longer.

• Healthy Places – how to make better use of, and recognise the importance of,  ‘place’ which was around making the best use of resources , assets, facilities and social capital in communities to help make communities healthier.  It was about linking in with opportunities that were provided by consultations and engagement on other plans such as the local plan policy framework which also shape and affect communities.

Each of the themes had key outcomes and specific indicators to measure performance. 

The Chair asked for views on whether the specific indicators and the structure of the strategy were appropriate and whether the outcomes addressed the challenges being faced in communities, and by the Council and the NHS.

The Director of Public Health commented that the draft strategy had been built upon the previous work undertaken in ‘Closing the Gap’ and developing existing work.  It was important to outline what ‘prevention’ would look like in a local strategy designed to bring about long term changes and differences in health needs identified in Joint Strategic Needs Assessment beyond the nominal lifetime of these 5 year strategies.   There would be more engagement and consultation as the strategy developed.

The Assistant City Mayor, Children, Young People and School stressed the importance of linking the strategy with work in other strategies and with the work of other Boards.  She felt that draft strategy should include an outcome around ‘attachment’ which could fit into any of the first three themes.  Getting the outcomes right for young people was an important part of long term prevention measures.

The Chair commented that the series of public engagements and development of the prevention strategy would take place in May and encouraged partners to take an active part in those events.

AGREED:

1)    That the draft strategy be received and the overall aim and approach of the draft strategy be supported.

2)    That the final version of the draft strategy be submitted to the next meeting of the Board