Agenda item

The Director of Public Health noted that Board Members had been provided with a table of the Public Health campaigns that had recently taken place, and those planned for the coming months, for information. These had linked in with the general plans and priorities that the Board supported, and national campaigns were further developed with a local focus. For example, during October the annual ‘Stoptober’ campaign would take place – this linked with the national campaign and supported local residents to take the 28-day challenge to stop smoking. Board Members were asked to consider if there were any other areas for which they would like to see campaigns established.

A Member noted that the ‘Stop Smoking’ initiative which had been located in the Resources Centre at Cotmandene had ceased due to the funding ending a few years ago – whilst open, it had been one of the most successful centres running the programme. The Director of Public Health advised that the Public Health campaigns signposted people to services, including to GP’s who could provide support. It was agreed that the Director of Public Health would speak to colleagues to obtain additional information relating to this initiative following the meeting. The Member further highlighted the importance of considering areas that other Committees may lead on. For example, Public Health could work collaboratively with the Housing department to ensure that landlords improved the quality of the housing they provided.

A Member suggested there could be a focus on improving mental health as this had come to the fore during the pandemic. The Director of Public Health advised that this was a priority area, and a substantive item would be brought to the November meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board to discuss mental health in further detail. The Chairman noted that a number of the areas were interlinked. Another Member agreed and highlighted that alcohol consumption had greatly increased, and that people needed to be made aware of the connection with mental health, blood pressure, Alzheimer’s and Dementia. The Director of Public Health informed Board Members that some of the alcohol services delivered focussed on the preventative side, but this was not as much as they would like. This service would be reprocured the following year, and they would look to undertake more preventative work as the data, particularly relating to young people, was concerning.

In response to a question, the Director of Public Health advised that a large amount of work had been undertaken a couple of years ago in relation to loneliness, and a conference had been held prior to the pandemic. As part of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) the team had been looking at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, social isolation and loneliness. The Portfolio Holder for Adult Care and Health advised that in the coming weeks, ‘mitigating loneliness’ workshops would be held from which feedback would be gathered. Councillor Aisha Cuthbert, Executive Assistant to the Leader of the Council, was the lead Member on a project supporting both the Council and voluntary sector’s work to tackle loneliness, and she would be presenting a report to the November meeting of the Adult Care and Health Policy Development and Scrutiny Committee. It was suggested that a copy of this report could be provided to Health and Wellbeing Board Members for information.

RESOLVED that the update be noted.