First public health strategy agreed for St Albans District
A new strategy aimed at improving residents’ health and wellbeing has been launched in response to growing demand for health services and challenges arising from demographic change.
A new strategy aimed at improving residents’ health and wellbeing has been launched in response to growing demand for health services and challenges arising from demographic change.
Agreed by St Albans District Health and Wellbeing Partnership, it is the first-ever Health and Wellbeing Strategy for the District.
Focused on preventing ill health, the strategy has two equal priorities: to improve the physical as well as the mental health and wellbeing of residents.
Although the District performs better than average on the majority of health indicators, there are potential health pressures associated with an ageing population, obesity and mental wellbeing.
For example, it is expected that there will be a 20 per cent increase in the 65 to 69 age group in the District over the period 2014 and 2039. Almost 60 per cent of adults in the District have also been classified as overweight and 13.7 per cent of children, aged between 10 and 11, as obese. In addition, data analysis has revealed that St Albans had the third highest suicide rate for Districts in Hertfordshire for the period 2013-15.
The new Health and Wellbeing Strategy has been developed by the Partnership’s Public Health Working Group and covers the period 2018 to 2021.
Partnership members will work together to improve people’s mental and physical wellbeing. For example, St Albans City and District Council is investing in its leisure and sports centres to encourage more people to increase their physical activity. It has also teamed up with other councils across the county to support the Hertfordshire Year of Physical Activity campaign aimed at boosting people’s activity levels.
The Partnership also has approximately £60,000 to spend on projects over the next year aimed at improving people’s physical and mental health.
Cllr Robert Donald, Chair of St Albans District Health and Wellbeing Partnership, said:
We know with all the demands on the health service currently, the more we can do to keep residents healthy and out of hospital or GP surgeries, the better it will be for their general health and wellbeing. This will also relieve pressure on NHS services locally. To help local residents remain healthy therefore whatever their age or disability, the St Albans Public Health Working Group has been working with the Health and Wellbeing Partnership to achieve this in our District. We are launching this strategy today which is a first for the District.
The Partnership has chosen to focus their resources on increasing physical activity and changing lifestyles to reduce obesity, as well as supporting projects that promote good mental health. The Partnership has £60,000 currently available and this will be spent equally between improving physical and mental health and wellbeing.
We have already agreed to help fund eight 12-week courses of the Shape Up men’s weight management programme run by Watford Football Club’s Community Sport and Education Trust. In addition, we will be working with partners on projects to improve the mental health and wellbeing of young people. Plus we are looking at continuing to support the Wellbeing Clinic, based at Citizens Advice St Albans District on a Tuesday afternoon at the Civic Centre. This is part of our ongoing support for the concept of social prescribing. The clinic signposts people to a wide range of community groups and activities where they can receive appropriate support to supplement any necessary medical treatment.
The strategy also includes the aim of making the District a dementia-friendly community by working with Dementia Friends, an Alzheimer’s Society initiative. The programme is designed to raise awareness of the condition through information and training sessions for local partners, businesses and the Hertfordshire-wide Hertswise scheme.
The Partnership’s Public Health Working Group will be reviewing this Health and Wellbeing Strategy on an annual basis to ensure that it is achieving its aims and is still relevant.
The St Albans Health and Wellbeing Strategy is available on the Council’s website.
A paper copy of the strategy can also be requested by emailing scott.rawlinson@stalbans.gov.uk.
Councillor contact:
Councillor Robert Donald, Chair of St Albans District Health and Wellbeing Partnership
Tel: 01727 841647, Email: cllr.r.donald@stalbans.gov.uk
Contact for the media:
Amanda Wilkinson, Senior Communications Officer, St Albans City and District Council
Tel: 01727 819317, E-mail: amanda.wilkinson@stalbans.gov.uk
Notes:
The St Albans District Health and Wellbeing Partnership aims to improve the health and wellbeing of people living in St Albans City and District.
It is comprised of St Albans City and District Council members, the chair of the County Health and Wellbeing Board and officers representing public health at Hertfordshire County Council. There are also representatives from the following partners and stakeholders:
- Herts Valleys Clinical Commissioning Group (HVCCG)
- St Albans and District Locality Group
- West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust
- Herts Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust
- Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust
- St Albans and Harpenden Patient Group
- Local Health Watch representative
- St Albans District Patients Forum
- Voluntary Sector representative (Chief Executive, St Albans Community Central St Albans)
The Public Health Working Group meets every quarter to oversee and manage the funding, development and delivery of St Albans District Health and Wellbeing Partnership’s projects and campaigns. The working group includes Councillors, Herts Valleys Clinical Commissioning Group, Community Central St Albans, patient representatives, local charities and other organisations.
More information is available online about:
Photo:
Launching the St Albans Health and Wellbeing Strategy:
Members of the Public Health Working Group
Front row: Cllr Robert Donald, Chair of St Albans District Health and Wellbeing Partnership and Cllr Teresa Heritage, Vice-Chair of St Albans District Health and Wellbeing Partnership
Back row: (left to right) Kate Newton, Community Central; Scott Rawlinson, St Albans City & District Council; Rose Gooding, 1Life St Albans Arts Team; Martyn Macphee, St Albans Mencap; John Wigley, St Albans and Harpenden Patient Group; Adele Hemmings, Mind in Mid Herts; and June Chapman, Citizens Advice St Albans District (CASTAD)