Northumberland County Councillor, Veronica Jones, Cabinet member for Adult Well-being and Health, is asking people living and working across Northumberland to share their views on future health and care priorities.
Northumberland County Council and NHS Northumberland Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) are working together to improve the overall health and wellbeing of the county’s residents and to work to reduce inequalities over the next 10 years.
Health and care leaders in Northumberland , working with wider stakeholders, have set out a new Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy for the county, explaining what health and wellbeing priorities are being proposed in order to tackle the county’s health needs. Rather than taking action on everything at once, it sets priorities for joint action with the aim of making a real impact on people's lives.
The draft document has identified four key themes:
- Giving all children and young people the best start in life
- Empowering people and communities
- Tackling some of the wider contributing factors of health
- Adopting a ‘whole system’ approach to health and care.
The council and the CCG are keen to engage with people in Northumberland to hear their thoughts and feelings about their ideas by means of an online survey.
Over the next 10 years the aim is to deliver better quality care and improve health outcomes for the people of Northumberland. This strategy focuses on the people who use these services and hopes to tackle the issues that affect everyone’s health.
All health and care partners in Northumberland recognise the importance of engaging with residents and encourage everyone to get involved and tell us their views. This will allow us to make sure our services meet the needs and wishes of local people that are fit for the future.”
Councillor Veronica Jones says: “By focusing on these key themes, we hope to see increases in both life expectancy and healthy life expectancy. But what we really want to do is close the gap between the experience of people living in our most and least deprived communities.
“We’re keen to hear your views on whether we are focussing on the right key health, care and wellbeing issues for the people of Northumberland.”
“We’d like you to take the time to answer our short survey to see if you think we have got the strategy’s key themes and priority areas right, and if you feel that anything is missing.
“Your feedback is really valuable to us and will help shape the final strategy document which is due to be published later this year.”
The online survey is available on the Council’s website and there is opportunity until Friday 7 September to complete it.