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Building blocks for a healthy Nottinghamshire

Figures show that people living in the least advantaged areas of our county generally die 7.5 years earlier and have spent an additional 14 years more living in ill-health, compared to those living in the most advantaged areas. It’s with that as a backdrop that we’ve developed our Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy for Nottinghamshire.

Health is not delivered in a doctor’s surgery. 90% of your health exists in the community in which you live and, through our Strategy, we plan to strengthen the building blocks of good health and wellbeing. These building blocks include things like having a safe home, education and employment, access to a healthy diet, and getting the best start in our early years. 

We developed the Strategy after listening to members of the public and hearing from organisations involved in health, care and community and voluntary services on what they think matters most. We have nine priority areas and we will work together as partners to focus on these over the next four years.

One priority is ‘good food and nutrition for all’. We’ve already approved our Food Charter for Nottinghamshire, which encourages local authorities, health partners, businesses and other organisations to work together to provide healthy, affordable and sustainable food in Nottinghamshire.

‘Giving every child the best start in life’ is another key area of focus. We want to do more to ensure prospective parents are well prepared for parenthood, as well as making sure that children are ready for nursery and school and demonstrating a good level of overall development.

Another priority is to ‘improve everyone’s mental health and wellbeing. We will be working with partners to promote mental resilience and wellbeing, with a particular focus on suicide prevention and early intervention work with people who are identified of being at risk.

The Strategy will be delivered by the Health and Wellbeing Board which is a partnership of local councils, health organisations and other partners. You can find out more about the Strategy and the Health and Wellbeing Board on our website.

This isn’t a quick fix. We need to work in partnership to achieve our vision of enabling everyone in Nottinghamshire to live healthier and happier lives, to prosper in their communities and remain independent in later life.  Working together to put the right building blocks in place will ensure people can take the important step and make positive changes for their own health and wellbeing.

I’m absolutely committed, along with my partners on the Health and Wellbeing Board to ensuring this is a success. The reward will be healthier, longer lives for people in all our communities.

Councillor Dr John Doddy

Chairman of the Health and Wellbeing Board