Agenda item

Presentation from Lucie Smith, Public Health Principal on Healthy Ageing and how the Community Board can support this on a community level.

Lucie Smith from Public Health delivered a presentation on Healthy Ageing, with an emphasis on social isolation prevention. 

The Healthy Ageing Strategy was a 5-year strategy from 2024-2029 which looked at the older population and how Buckinghamshire Council could contribute to the health of those residents.  The strategy was prevention focused with a multi-agency approach, aiming to understand what was important to our residents.  They were using the World Health Organisation (WHO) Age Friendly Approach to assist our residents in ageing well.  There was work being done to engage with older residents to find out what barriers were in place that prevent them from participating fully in society.   They had a Healthy Ageing Collaborative which brings together organisations, the ‘Welcome In’ scheme and the Healthy Libraries initiative.

The following questions and points were discussed following the presentation:

·       There was a lot of lost experience in the older generations and they could look at leveraging that experience to bring those people into the society – not discriminating when recruiting.

·    Buckingham Town Council had been looking at retail outlets in the town centre to see how accessible they are. They were also looking at creating some yellow benches in the town council parks, to encourage conversation to tackle loneliness.

·    There were issues accessing the town centre due to the unreliable transport links.  Proposed increased parking charges may contribute to residents in villages choosing not to visit Buckingham Town Centre.

·   Visits to some of the residents in local parishes had found that having lost their loved ones they often did not have anyone to talk to and tell stories about their lives and memories.  We should find ways and ask key questions to encourage conversation.  We should not be so prescriptive about what and when lonely people had the opportunity to engage.  An engagement day would benefit the community.  Being receptive to people who want to talk was important.

·   Concerns were raised that this type of work may not reach the people in the community who don’t engage at all and are completely isolated, who would really benefit from the services on offer.

·   The work of Compassionate Communities UK’s “Frome Model” was highlighted, to help reduce emergency healthcare admissions.   Compassionate Communities are working with GP’s to tackle this issue, and emergency admissions had significantly reduced. 

The Frome Model – Compassionate Communities UK (compassionate-communitiesuk.com)

·   It was difficult for older people to downsize as they were unable to do so within the communities that they already live due to the increase in house prices.  Housing should consider this when looking at new builds, as well as focusing on establishing supported living within existing communities.

·   The Health and Social Care / Growth, Infrastructure and Housing Rapid Review was highlighted in response to these comments.

FINAL Planning for Future Primary Care in Bucks Feb 24.pdf (moderngov.co.uk).

Lucie thanked everyone for their input and clarified that the service was working closely with Buckinghamshire Council’s Housing Team as part of the strategy.  All feedback generated during the meeting would be fed into this.

Alice Williams, Community Board Manager, suggested the organisation of a workshop through the community board, where members could feed in local intelligence of the opportunities available and gaps in provision for health and wellbeing, with an emphasis on older people in the community board area.   Angela Macpherson, Cabinet Member for Health & Wellbeing offered to Chair the workshop. 

ACTION:  Alice Williams to organise a workshop for the community board members around the provisions for health and wellbeing in the local area.