New report highlights health priorities for Gloucester
30.07.2009
The annual report of the Director of Public Health published today highlights how NHS Gloucestershire is planning its services to meet the health challenges facing the county, now and in the future.
The report features six district level briefings, which provide information on the key health issues and priorities for action at a local level.
The district briefings are based on the outcomes of the county’s first Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA), and the launch of the eJSNA, a new online planning tool - containing the latest district level data on the population, its health and lifestyle.
The report shows that while ‘overall health in Gloucestershire is good’, there are variations in health between and within districts. It also flags up the county-wide challenge of caring for an aging population.
Overall Gloucester city has higher levels of smoking, and alcohol related health issues than other parts of the county.
Many of the health challenges facing Gloucester are linked to the higher levels of deprivation in the locality.
The report emphasises the importance of targeted action in the most deprived communities to break the link between deprivation and poor health, and details the positive work already being carried out by NHS Gloucestershire to improve health outcomes for all local residents.
A Healthy City Partnership, bringing together partners from across the public, community and voluntary sectors, has been established, and a dedicated Health Improvement Facilitator has been appointed to co-ordinate work in some of Gloucester’s most deprived neighbourhoods.
The City will also be one of the first districts to benefit from a pioneering new community Health Trainers programme, through which local people will be trained to support others in their community to make healthier lifestyle choices.
Other initiatives highlighted in the report include
- the Living and Learning Centre, based at GL1 leisure centre which co-ordinates a range of activities aimed at improving health and wellbeing, including the Fresh Start and Get fit for Success physical activity schemes.
- The launch of a new Stop Smoking Shop in the city centre, providing a drop in support service for smokers
- The work of the Substance Action Group in raising awareness of alcohol harm. The group has run a number of initiatives including a city centre street stall targeting young people, and a DVD campaign in pubs. Later this year, will see the roll out of the ‘Don’t Buy for Under 18s’ campaign in local supermarkets.
Welcoming the report Dr Shona Arora, Director of Public Health said:
‘NHS Gloucestershire is committed to working with Gloucester City Council, other local partners and the local community to tackle the challenges to health identified in today’s report’.
‘Every year, far too many people in Gloucester suffer avoidable ill health or die earlier than they should. Health inequalities are unacceptable and we know that with the right actions, they can be prevented’.
‘The JSNA is at the heart of improving health outcomes for everyone. Understanding where the district’s deprived areas are helps ensure that resources and services are targeted where they are most needed’.
‘More than ever, healthy lifestyle choices matter, but choices can be influenced by wider factors such as income, unemployment and housing. Our job is to make healthy choices as easy as possible for people in Gloucester and across the county as a whole’.
Today’s report is only the start of the process. The JSNA will continue to build, as new data becomes available. NHS Gloucestershire will also be publishing update reports through the year reporting on different health priorities, and emerging trends at the county and district level.
