Sheffield is committed to reducing and eliminating health inequalities in the city and formally launches its Health and Wellbeing Strategy today.
Agreed at Sheffield City Council’s cabinet meeting on 17 April, and NHS Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group’s governing body in April, the strategy recognises that health inequalities affect everyone and states that it is not right that some people can expect to live a less healthy life because of who they are or where they live. It highlights the three main areas that contribute to a healthy life: Starting Well, Living Well and Ageing Well.
The Sheffield Joint Health and Wellbeing Board, a partnership between Sheffield City Council, the NHS and a range of partners in the city, will lead work with partners to deliver on the ambitions of the strategy. The board is aware that ‘reaching our ambitions will require not just the insight, commitment and action of the partners around the Board, but that of all partners and stakeholders across Sheffield.’
Work will focus on the person from birth to going to school; how a child develops, has a good education and then transitions to independence, how important it is for that person to have access to a home that supports their health and to have the opportunity for fulfilling work and the resources to support their needs. It will also focus on how that person should be able to walk or cycle in their local area whatever their age or ability, have access to care and support, meaningful social contact and an end to their life with dignity in a place of their choice.
Short term actions will follow the strategy and as no one sector has the answer to these difficult challenges it will be important for people and communities to work with services and business to deliver this strategy. To develop a set of actions, there will be workshops on 9 different ‘ambitions’. Stakeholders from across the city will attend these workshops and discuss what needs to continue, what needs to stop, what needs to change, what blockages there are and how success will be measured. There will be an action plan for each ambition and The Health and Wellbeing Board will own these and make sure that the agreed actions are carried out.
Today’s launch event at St. Mary’s Church, St Mary’s Gate will open the discussions about turning plans into actions. There will be more events in the future too to give people the opportunity to be involved.
Greg Fell, Director of Public Health said: “We want to make sure that our action plans, built on engagement with people in the city, take the right approach so that we can deliver on our ambitions to sustain healthy and happy living in our city.”
Councillor George Lindars Hammond, Co-Chair of the Sheffield Health and Wellbeing Board and Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care said: “This is an ambitious strategy that we’ll be ensuring all of our partners are delivering. The board’s role will be to oversee this transformation to a preventative system that can tackle health inequalities and keep people independent safe and well.”
Dr.Tim Moorhead, Co-Chair of the Sheffield Health and Wellbeing Board and Chair of NHS Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group said: “Health inequalities remain a significant challenge for Sheffield, and we understand that the solution to this challenge will not just be found within health and social care services. Therefore the strategic vision is for improving health and wellbeing of residents, not just about health and care services.
“We need to make sure that, as a city, we’re spending every penny wisely, and working closely together towards the same goals will help us achieve that.”
For the full Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy visit: http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/home/public-health/health-wellbeing-board.html
Anyone who would like to know more about the Health and Wellbeing Strategy can email healthandwellbeingboard@sheffield.gov.uk