Issue - meetings

Frances Howie urged district Councils to be aware of the wealth of data in the JSNA which was available on the website. The Director of Public Health Report focussed on prevention being better than cure; an idea which hadn't been taken seriously enough in recent years despite warnings from the health industry that things would not be sustainable by about 2020. Monetary investment was needed but also working better with our communities to ensure people took ownership of their own health.

Matthew Fung presented the JSNA Annual Summary:

·       The JSNA was a tool to reduce inequalities in the local population

·       Women in richer areas of the County live 6 years longer

·       Generally healthy life expectancy was better in Worcestershire than nationally

·       By 2033 it was expected that the numbers of people over 65 would increase by almost 30%. Action was needed to make services sustainable

·       The positive mortality gap between Worcestershire and England had been narrowing in 2017 but more recent data suggested the trend may be changing in a positive direction and had begun to widen again

·       There was a declining trend in the use of antibiotics but the decline had not kept pace with national trends

·       Air pollution was rising but 0.3% of Worcestershire residents lived in air quality management areas compared to national figures of 0.2%. There would be fewer deaths if people moved from areas with high pollution to low, fewer deaths would result and millions could be saved in primary and secondary care in medication costs and social care costs

·       School readiness in children who received free school meals was lower than in England

·       Educational outcomes at KS2 were worse that England.

Frances Howie stated that Worcestershire was generally above average for most health outcomes however we should not be complacent as there were risks to future health. There were risks to children's future health due to excess weight, school readiness, smoking in pregnancy and breastfeeding rates leading to the current generation being the least healthy in recent times. Middle aged people were also following lifestyles which would lead to them living longer in poor health and there were persistent inequalities.

The report suggested how these problems could be approached:

·       Creating healthy places – it was accepted that more could be achieved and not all opportunities had been grasped. System leaders could do more

·       Supporting people to help themselves – there were lots of places to go for help and information but more systematic signposting was required with organisations working together. Progress was being made on social prescribing through the STP but that work needed to be scaled up. The fact that there was less money available could not be ignored so organisations needed to work together with what was available.

·       Effective prevention services – small, hard to reach services were still being missed. Universal staff training was required and more done with midwifery, health visiting and school nursing. The targeting of services such as mental health, parenting services, diabetes prevention, falls prevention and weight  ...  view the full minutes text for item 506