Issue - meetings

A themed discussion will take place on the theme of ‘Living Well’, as outlined as a priority in the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy. This includes a Panel of representatives from Public Health, Devon County Council, Active Devon and Natural Devon and a biography of those attendees is attached.

The Board held a round table discussion on the ‘Living Well’ priority, as detailed in the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy, which included attendance of representatives who formed an ‘expert panel’. A biography of each attendee was appended to the agenda and included Mr S Brown Deputy Director of Public Health (Devon County Council), Mr J Hulland Transport Planning and Road Safety Manager (Devon County Council), James Bogue Senior Development Manager (Active Devon) and Sue Goodfellow (Chair of Natural Devon).

The Panel also gave a supporting presentation which considered the proportional contributions to premature death, including behaviours, genetics, social circumstances and environments. The 20 leading risk factors relating to ill health in adults were explained as well as the challenges when looking at the number of adults who smoked (79,000), were obese (141,200), physically inactive (163,900) and were drinking at harmful levels (120,600).

The presentation outlined the One Small Step service, the new ‘are you sitting comfortably’ campaign, the challenges (and opportunities) with transport issues and the definitions of an inactive lifestyle. Lastly, the target to help at least 125k people to get more active and the campaign of ‘Natural Devon’ (Devon Local Nature Partnership) to take forward a ‘Naturally Healthy Campaign’ (funding had been applied for) to help inactive people aged 55+ become more active by connecting them with nature.

The Devon Local Nature Partnership also outlined their vision, which was about everyone in Devon having the opportunity and confidence to be ‘naturally active’ in order to improve their health and well-being. They also highlighted the 77 varied events that took place in Devon in May 2016 for Naturally Healthy Month, reiterating that access to green space was one of the few health interventions which reduced health inequalities. For May 2017, the naturally healthy month was being extended into Somerset. More information was available at www.naturaldevon.org.uk.

The Board discussed and asked questions on the following;

·         That the ‘natural health service’ was crucial in supporting general health and wellbeing;

·         How the partners were engaging with schools, to ensure healthy habits and lifestyles from an early age;

·         The importance of linking green spaces with new developments, particularly urban development, the role of public transport and innovative uses for S106 monies, for example to improve Public Rights of Way;

·         The impact of the sugar tax and the revenue that might be raised from that and potential uses;

·         Clarification of how the initiatives target the most vulnerable, including links with disabilities;

·         And the importance of evaluation and how success might be measured.