Resilient people living their best lives:

“It is important to ensure that people are supported to become resilient and self sufficient. Whilst also supporting genuine need.” Join the conversation respondent

The opportunity

Local people tell us that they want to be able to live great lives in a flourishing community and that they value the importance of good local care services. With strong communities and many good local services, we have much to celebrate and the majority of local children, young people and adults live healthy, happy and independent lives. Increasingly, however, many residents find themselves in crisis, facing multiple challenges. Mental wellbeing is under pressure with a fifth of local people reporting high anxiety. We have significant inequalities in the health of our population between more and less deprived areas and we are seeing significant increases in people accessing health and adult social care services. These issues are reducing the opportunity for more of our residents to flourish and live their best lives and are robbing the borough of the experience and contribution these people have to offer. But they are also placing unsustainable pressure on local services. There is an opportunity to do things differently and build on our strengths to meet these challenges head on. We know that our health and wellbeing is not just about health services. It’s about living in a supportive, community, having a clear purpose, and living a lifestyle that prevents you from developing ill health. We will also transform our local services to enhance the wellbeing and resilience of our adult residents, working alongside them to ensure these changes meet their needs and aspirations. A key guiding principle will be good conversations about ‘what matters to me’, enabling local people to have greater control.

What success will look like

More people living a healthier, happier lives at home for longer

Narrowing the gap in health and life expectancy between more and less deprived areas

More health and wellbeing services delivered in partnership with the community

More residents having a better experience of health and social care

More children, young people and adults adopting healthy lifestyles

How we will make a difference

We will focus on people’s strengths and how communities can come together with public, health and community sector partners to support the people who make up that community. We will make information, advice and guidance easily available and use social prescribing to signpost positive activities such as leisure facilities and local green spaces. We will support carers and promote the rights of disabled people. We will encourage people to take up personal budgets and have more control over the support they draw on.
We will enable the development, delivery and promotion of services to support people who wish to remain independent and ensure that there are sufficient amounts of the right care and support available in the borough. We will ensure the appropriate investment in our local care market, review our learning disability services and coproduce a new model of day care with local people.
“Support where and when people need it quickly, well signposted.” Join the conversation respondent
We will tackle the issues that determine people’s health – issues like employment, housing and education – and ensure health equity is considered in all our key strategies and decisions. We will also provide specific services such as substance misuse and sexual health support.
“It's no good people just living longer, we need to live better. Promote active lifestyles from an early age.” Join the conversation respondent
We will support localised health campaigns, promote healthy eating and active lifestyles to tackle childhood obesity, and encourage people to get immunised. We will offer effective services that support people to breastfeed and stop smoking. We will also work with Brio to provide leisure opportunities and promote a transport system that enables and promotes active travel and reduces air pollution.
We will improve advice and guidance, supporting our Natural Health Service, promoting Books on Prescription, embedding recovery services and implementing our suicide prevention strategy. We will work with schools to promote child and adolescent mental health and tackle social isolation through community responses.
We are keeping our outbreak monitoring and management capability and reviewing our approach in light of all we learnt during COVID.
We are making it easier for people to access early support through our ‘Let’s Talk’ model and improving our digital services. We will work with partners to improve access to GP, dentistry, community pharmacy and mental wellbeing services.
A redesigned therapy-led reablement service will support people in the community, with Disabled Facilities Grants and other provision supporting people to live independently. We will also take a Home First Approach so that wherever possible people leaving hospital are supported to return to their home.
We will continue to integrate health and care services so that people access support easily, without worrying about which organisation provides which service. This will mean multi-disciplinary teams and joint approaches to prevention, workforce development, technology and commissioning.

Play your part case studies

How we can all play our part

High quality care when you need help

Taking action to tackle health inequalities

Being proactive to stop or delay people becoming unwell from preventable diseases

Enhancing mental health and wellbeing for more of our residents

Ensuring we have arrangements in place to protect us from future health emergencies

Making help and support more accessible

Helping people get their independence back after ill-health

Making health and care services seamless

Our part

Your part

Connect – connect with the people around you: your family, friends, colleagues and neighbours. Look out for them, help where you can and spend time developing these relationships

Eat well and be active – Take responsibility for your own health and wellbeing. You don't have to go to the gym. Take a walk, go cycling or play a game of football. Find an activity that you enjoy and make it a part of your life. Think about your lifestyle and small changes you can make with diet and alcohol to be healthier

Be safe - Avoid risky behaviours such as smoking or substance use and encourage your friends and peers to do the same. Contact substance misuse or sexual health services if you need the support that they offer

Keep learning – learning new skills can give you a sense of achievement and a new confidence. It could even help you change careers or improve your earning potential

Give to others – even the smallest act can count, whether it's a smile, a thank you or a kind word. Larger acts, such as volunteering at your local community centre or befriending service, can improve your mental wellbeing and help build stronger communities. Tell us if you care for someone in your life so you can access support and also look after your own wellbeing

Plan for the future – we are all getting older, do things now which will help you be healthy, happy and independent as you age

Be mindful – be more aware of the present moment, including your thoughts and feelings, your body and the world around you. Some people call this awareness ‘mindfulness’

Choose the right health care when you need it – it might be visiting your pharmacist, GP or NHS Direct

Build on your strengths - If you do need support, tell us about what your strengths and goals are and we will support you to live your best life

Consider going into a caring or health role – there are many opportunities and career paths to choose from

How we can all play our part

Our part

High quality care when you need help.

Taking action to tackle health inequalities.

Being proactive to stop or delay people becoming unwell from preventable diseases.

Enhancing mental health and wellbeing for more of our residents.

Ensuring we have arrangements in place to protect us from future health emergencies.

Making help and support more accessible.

Helping people get their independence back after ill-health.

Making health and care services seamless.

Your part

Connect – connect with the people around you: your family, friends, colleagues and neighbours. Look out for them, help where you can and spend time developing these relationships.

Eat well and be active – Take responsibility for your own health and wellbeing. You don't have to go to the gym. Take a walk, go cycling or play a game of football. Find an activity that you enjoy and make it a part of your life. Think about your lifestyle and small changes you can make with diet and alcohol to be healthier.

Be safe - Avoid risky behaviours such as smoking or substance use and encourage your friends and peers to do the same. Contact substance misuse or sexual health services if you need the support that they offer.

Keep learning – learning new skills can give you a sense of achievement and a new confidence. It could even help you change careers or improve your earning potential.

Give to others – even the smallest act can count, whether it's a smile, a thank you or a kind word. Larger acts, such as volunteering at your local community centre or befriending service, can improve your mental wellbeing and help build stronger communities. Tell us if you care for someone in your life so you can access support and also look after your own wellbeing.

Be mindful – be more aware of the present moment, including your thoughts and feelings, your body and the world around you. Some people call this awareness ‘mindfulness’.

Choose the right health care when you need it – it might be visiting your pharmacist, GP or NHS Direct.

Build on your strengths - If you do need support, tell us about what your strengths and goals are and we will support you to live your best life.

Consider going into a caring or health role – there are many opportunities and career paths to choose from.

Plan for the future – we are all getting older, do things now which will help you be healthy, happy and independent as you age.