Consultation launched to ensure residents lead a healthy life across Harrogate districts

A new strategy is being developed to tackle social inequalities across North Yorkshire and improve health and well-being for hundreds of thousands of people over the next seven years.

A public consultation has been launched on the blueprint to enhance the health of the county's 615,400 residents and ensure that the gap for life expectancy between the most affluent and poorest areas of North Yorkshire [1] is addressed. The North Yorkshire Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy aims to ensure that every county resident has a fair chance of living a fulfilling, happy and healthy life, and reduce the differences between health outcomes in the population. The three main priorities set out in the strategy, which is being developed by the North Yorkshire Health and Wellbeing Board, are:

People - the council will work with communities who experience the poorest health outcomes to make sure that they can access and benefit from the services and opportunities they need.
Place - where people live should help them stay well and happy.
The council wants to make sure that where residents live does not unfairly reduce the quality of their health or length of their life.
Prevention - the council will improve the health and wellbeing of all residents by concentrating on the big actions that will make the most difference to the population.

A number of actions have been identified to achieve the three priorities. Some of these include working together to improve waiting times for assessments and access to services, supporting children and young people to be ready for school, and getting people moving more, including active travel opportunities. Other actions include developing integrated health and care services in local communities, continuing to reduce smoking levels, working towards "smoke-free 2030" and supporting the most vulnerable families with the cost-of-living.

North Yorkshire Council's executive member for health and adult services and chair of the health and wellbeing board, Cllr Michael Harrison, said: "We are calling on all residents, community groups and local organisations to have their say so everyone has a fair chance of living a fulfilling life, free from preventable ill health. "We want to add years to life and life to years. Our priorities focus on areas where there are opportunities for partners to work together to have a real impact on health and wellbeing outcomes for people of all ages, to provide children with the best start in life and to reduce health inequalities."

He added: "For many people North Yorkshire is a great place to live a healthy life and the joint action we take under this strategy will help to sustain this. However, we know that there are people within our communities for whom it is much harder to live a healthy lifestyle and to access the right services at the right level to prevent ill health." Large parts of North Yorkshire have better than average life expectancy when compared with England as a whole.

However, there are areas where life expectancy is worse, particularly in Scarborough, but also in parts of Selby, Harrogate [2] and Richmondshire. The gap in life expectancy between the county's most deprived and least deprived wards can be as much as 11 years for men and 10 years for women. There are also some groups in the community who experience much poorer health outcomes than others, including people who experience poor mental health and/or mental illness, older people living on low income and/or with multiple health conditions, people with learning disabilities or those who have had difficulty in their childhood.

Whilst the strategy has a focus on reducing health inequalities, the actions over the next seven years should have a positive impact on health and wellbeing for all North Yorkshire residents. The vice-chair of the North Yorkshire Health and Wellbeing Board and chief operating officer of the Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership, Amanda Bloor, added: "Our draft strategy comes at a time of profound challenge to the local health and care system, where Covid-19 placed unprecedented demands on services and amplified the deep-rooted inequalities that persist in our society. "We will build on our history of working together as partners with local communities to improve people's health from childhood to later-in-life across North Yorkshire, but to do this, we want to understand what people need to have a good health and wellbeing and how their communities can support them.

Please take part in the consultation and share your views." The consultation, which runs until March 31, includes a survey, online events and in-person local drop-in events in libraries. Details of the strategy, surveys, and information about the events is available at www.northyorks.gov.uk/WellbeingStrategyConsultation [3]

At the library drop-in events, officers will be available to discuss with people about their ideas to improve health and wellbeing. The public can also see the council's Photo Voice exhibition, created by residents in North Yorkshire. Paper copies of the strategy and survey will be available from local libraries or by calling the council on 0300 131 2131 (say 'health and wellbeing strategy' when prompted).

Easy read versions will be available online and in libraries, but the public can also call the council to request copies in other languages and formats.

References

^ North Yorkshire (www.harrogateadvertiser.co.uk)
^ Harrogate (www.harrogateadvertiser.co.uk)
^ www.northyorks.gov.uk/WellbeingStrategyConsultation (www.northyorks.gov.uk)