Helping us all be healthy

Coun John Doddy, chairman of the Nottinghamshire health and wellbeing board at Nottinghamshire County Counci

The strategy aims to boost the health and wellbeing of county residents through more joined-up thinking and closer working between bodies across health and social care.

There is a huge amount of work already underway across Nottinghamshire to improve health and wellbeing which supports the delivery of our shared vision.

We want to focus on issues needing a partnership approach.

Our vision is working together to enable people, from the youngest to the oldest, to live happier and healthier lives in their communities, particularly where the need is greatest.

Some key statistics to address include smoking in pregnancy, which is 50 per cent higher in parts on Nottinghamshire than the national average.

Two smoking in pregnancy groups will look at key issues, monitor ongoing performance and deliver against action plans to reduce the numbers of pregnant smokers and Smokefreelife Nottinghamshire will work with midwives to help women to quit.

Some areas of Nottinghamshire have a population which is, on average, 69 per cent, overweight, so we will work with district councils and local businesses to develop the Healthy Options takeaway scheme, giving customers more choice for healthier food.

Hospital admission rates for alcoholic liver disease in Nottinghamshire are at 47.7 per 100,000 population, higher than the overall average for England, so Nottinghamshire Public Health will commission a substance misuse service from Change, Grow, Live (CGL) which includes an alcohol hospital liaison team to put in place comprehensive care plans.

Partner agencies will also support the most vulnerable families and individuals where alcohol is an issue.

We have engineered activity out of our lives and now need to reach out to the most inactive, so we will work with Active Notts to find local solutions to develop more active communities and bring together transport planning with local districts to better develop initiatives and improvements, encouraging people to walk and cycle.

Life expectancy is a key indicator of health and wellbeing levels and assessment shows people in Rushcliffe live on average 8.5 years longer than people in deprived areas of Mansfield, Ashfield and Bassetlaw.

We know people’s health and wellbeing is mostly influenced by where they live, what they eat, their jobs, communities and family relationships and we believe that’s where we can have the biggest impact.