Agenda item

Louise Hurst, Public Health Consultant, provided a presentation, appended to the minutes.  The presentation was a top level overview and included recommendations for the South West Chilterns Community Board based on the public health profile.  However, the numbers were never the full story; local insight/intelligence/assets were key as the profile looked at the population overall and did not identify variations between different areas.  The profile highlighted where things were going well, but also importantly where improvements could be made to help inform priority setting for current local health and wellbeing needs.  Many of the indicators were presented in comparison to the other community boards or Buckinghamshire overall. Therefore, some community boards would, by definition, perform “better” or “worse” than others. L Hurst recommended referring to the national (England) reference values where available for wider context.  A number of factors influenced health and the following points were raised during a discussion on how Covid-19 had affected the health of residents:

•       Depression and mental health difficulties had been noted in both young and old people.

•       Weight gain through lack of exercise.

•       Loneliness – L Hurst added the Council was offering mental health support to people who were shielding and raised the possibility of the support being offered to the communities.

•       The impact of home-schooling on children and parents.

•       Following a query on how the Befriending Service worked L Hurst explained that it would be carried out over the telephone for the time being to those who qualified.  L Hurst added that there would be many people over the age of 70 who would not be offered the service and suggested it would be worth considering.

•       There was a lack of confidence in the public to use local restaurants and facilities.

•       Reference was made to the map showing the vulnerability index on slide 6 of the Public Health presentation and how it was measured.  An area of high vulnerability in the north-west of the South West Chilterns CB area was pointed out and L Hurst offered to find out the location.

ACTION:  L Hurst

• The impact on people waiting for tests and routine procedures whilst the NHS caught up with the backlog.
• The SW Chilterns area had a higher proportion of older residents and the importance of the flu vaccine was highlighted.

There were five recommendations based on the Public Health profile:

1. Reducing smoking, childhood obesity and physical inactivity were key areas as they were major causes of preventable ill health and death.
2. Risk of cancer was linked to a number of behavioural factors. Screening and early detection did not prevent cancer but were linked to better outcomes.
3. Exploration of local dementia friendly initiatives.
4. Promotion of NHS Health Checks.
5. Programmes to build community cohesion or encourage befriending.

L Hurst encouraged everyone to complete the Buckinghamshire Coronavirus Health and Wellbeing Survey and asked that the survey be promoted to residents. 

L Hurst agreed to provide information to Councillor Suzanne Brown which could be printed and delivered to local households.

ACTION:  L Hurst

https://yourvoicebucks.citizenspace.com/public-health/coronavirus-ph-survey/