Agenda item

The Chairman congratulated Dr Frances Howie on becoming Director of Public Health. Dr Howie then presented her Annual Report.

The report was in two parts – Part one: Ageing in Worcestershire and Part Two: Compendium of Health Indicators. There were larger numbers of older people in Worcestershire than in many areas of the Country. There was a difference between life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, and system leaders had a part to play in encouraging healthy lifestyles.

The numbers of older people were increasing but there was a difference between the people living in disadvantaged circumstances who were more likely to have a lower life expectancy and a longer period of ill health, compared to those who were advantaged.

The report compared some outcomes around the Country and internationally and lessons should be learnt. It was realistic to have the ambition to close the gap between Worcestershire and the best performing areas.

 There were five recommendations:

1.    System leaders giving higher priority to reducing the gap between life expectancy and healthy life expectancy. People should expect good health till the end of life,

2.    Building for a healthy old age. Worcestershire planners and decision makers should give more focus to the health impact of the planned environment, increasing the chances of a healthy old age,

3.    Enabling people to help themselves, scaling up training to create a public health army, building inclusive digital assets and systematising social prescribing,

4.    Developing targeted and evidence based prevention services, such as falls prevention, vaccination and lifestyle change,

5.    Shifting attitudes towards celebrating later life.

The compendium of Health Indicators summarised that overall Worcestershire had good health outcomes.  Some areas of concern were around smoking in pregnancy, levels of breastfeeding, child obesity and children living in poverty where the figures were not improving.

In the discussion it was noted that:

·         District Councils could do a lot to support these issues without additional funding, such as awareness raising and all District Councils should be aware of the health implications of their work;

·         Screening programmes were nationally set but local effort was needed to make sure that they reached the relevant population, and not only the most advantaged,

·         Volunteering was an asset for Worcestershire as well as for the people who took part, but it should be recognised that people could organise volunteering themselves in their community,

·         Public health was an important part of the STP, with prevention being embedded in each of the 14 programmes;

·         Board Members would appreciate partners reporting back on the actions they were taking. The Health Improvement Group would report back on various action plans and actions on health inequality would be highlighted;

RESOLVED that the Health and Well-being Board:

a)    Noted and discussed the content of the Annual Report  of the Director of Public health;

b)    Discussed how the organisations represented on the Board might best respond to the recommendations of the report, and resolved to take this discussion into different organisations; and

c)    Agreed that Member bodies should use the Compendium of Health Indicators in service planning and commissioning.