The public are being invited to have their say on a new draft plan to improve the health and wellbeing of Cumbria over the next decade.
Called the Joint Cumbria Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2019-2029, it sets out how partners in Cumbria will work together to improve the overall health and wellbeing of the county’s residents and reduce health inequalities. The Health and Wellbeing Board are encouraging Cumbrian residents and organisations to review the draft plan and share their feedback.
The consultation opens on 1 November and can be found at www.cumbria.gov.uk/haveyoursay.
The draft strategy identifies four key themes around which activity should be organised. These are:
- Protecting the health of the population as a whole, through immunisation programmes and reducing environmental hazards.
- Providing high quality, person centred care that is not just about preventing ill-health but about helping people right across the county to live in the best health possible for as long as possible.
- Tackling the wider determinants of health and wellbeing like deprivation, rurality, skills, social networks and infrastructure.
- Improving health and wellbeing throughout the life course empowering people to take personal control and responsibility for their own health and wellbeing.
Each theme includes areas for priority focus, including things like:
- Boosting MMR and flu vaccine uptake.
- Developing integrated health and care teams.
- Improving air quality across Cumbria.
- Reducing the prevalence of smoking.
Respondents to the consultation are being asked whether the Board has got the focus for the strategy right or whether there are other issues that should be prioritised.
Cllr Stewart Young, Leader of Cumbria County Council and Chair or Cumbria Health and Wellbeing Board, said: “This is a critical strategy that will set the direction for work by the council and health partners over many years to come. That’s why it’s so important that we ask for feedback on this draft plan. There are few topics that generate such a passionate debate as health, so I fully expect people will want to take time to review the strategy and share their views.”
Colin Cox, Cumbria’s Director of Public Health, said: “Cumbria faces some big challenges in terms of health and wellbeing and it’s only by co-ordinating the work of all the agencies involved and ensuring we are all pulling in the same direction that we will be able to achieve the change that we want to see. We all want to live long healthy lives, free from ill health, but there are inevitably different views about how to achieve that. I’d encourage people to take time to read the plan and have their say.”
Peter Rooney, Chief Operating Officer at NHS North Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “We know people care passionately about their health and care services and want support to stay well and healthy. We want people to share their views about what we should be prioritising and how we should be working together.”
People can respond to the consultation until 31 January 2019.
