A Presentation from the Director of Public Health
Minutes:
Due to the Director of Public Health annual report going to Cabinet following this meeting of the Board, only an overview of the report was given to the Board. The rationale behind the report was to consider the challenges around Health and Wellbeing.
The Board learned that there were health inequalities in society that flowed from different economic circumstances. The report highlighted alternative lifestyle choices for better health that aimed to improve the socio-economic position of the individual.
The Board heard that there was a lot of evidence identifying the impact on health from what we do in life to the environment that we live in, which was identified in the report.
The Board learned that Croydon is said to have the second highest population of any borough in London with the highest population for people under eighteen years and had the third highest population for people over sixty-five years. The report estimated that the next generation in ten years’ time would see Croydon still having the largest population of those under eighteen years. Croydon is said to have the fourth highest population of working age residents, and have over sixty-one thousand older people residing in the borough. The age range was notably diverse within different areas of the borough, however, it was recognised that Croydon broadly have younger people in the north of the borough and older people in the south of the borough.
The Board recognised that there were different ways to define health and was working hard to better understand the challenges in the health and wellbeing across Croydon society. The Board noted that adults’ and children’s social care, housing and community safety were all equally important when recognising health needs across society. The Board discussed the upcoming report and recognised that there was a need for policy to be evidence based, and that the detailed work identified in the report would help shape how the Board would work together to address the issue.
The Board discussed that there was plenty of opportunity to change the way the Board operated. The Chair highlighted that the upcoming workshop on the three underlining priorities in line with the strategies would be delivered to identify:
- how the Board wants to work,
- what the priorities are,
- what the Board wants to achieve in twelve months,
- convening partnership meetings, and
- whether there would be other partners such as mental health involved in the Board
Members of the Board announced that the future focus should be on areas of highest need. The Board acknowledged that resources were limited for those that reside in North Croydon and New Addington.
The Board discussed that the ‘Just Be’ website was enabling people to help themselves to empower change in their own behaviours (such as stop smoking, alcohol awareness and healthy eating) and to access facilities to improve their health and wellbeing. It was recognised that obesity was a long-term cause of ill-health and therefore, to acknowledge the signs at an early stage, Members requested that a strong campaign to get the message out in schools, would help achieve earlier change.
The Board recognised that there was more that the Health and Wellbeing Strategy can do to support the BAME population who are more at a disadvantage. This was an opportunity to see the Board do something different and tangible.
Members of the Board aspired for Croydon to improve health massively in the next five years which would include sixteen thousand jobs coming into the borough. It would also show that the Public Health Report in 2025 would show Croydon to be ‘the place to be’ as the population would be benefiting from resources and better lifestyle.
The Health and Wellbeing Board was in consensus to develop what they would strive to achieve. The Board would need to set a challenge to do things in a systematic way on how to address the matter. The Board would also need to look into the funding for stability. The Chair acknowledged the above opportunities would help inform the work of the Croydon Health and Wellbeing Board.