Agenda item

Briefing note of the Director of Public Health and Wellbeing

The Board considered a briefing note and received a presentation of the Director of Public Health and Wellbeing concerning her Annual Report for 2019 ‘Bridging the Gap: Tackling Health Inequalities in Coventry, a Marmot City’, a copy of which was set out at an appendix to the report. The report included recommendations for health and wellbeing partners across Coventry. This year the report focused on health inequalities in Coventry; the determinants that contributed to these inequalities and the work being carried out to address them.

The briefing note indicated that health inequalities were important because they had a significant impact on how long a person would live and the number of years they would live in good health. People in more affluent areas would live a longer live, with more years of good health, than people living in more deprived areas. In Coventry, this gap between groups could result in men in some areas of the city living on average 10.9 years less than people in better off areas. For women, the gap was 10 years. The gap in the number of years lived in good health was even bigger, with men in the most affluent areas experiencing 17 more years in good health than men in less affluent areas, and for women, the gap was 18 years. The Annual Report set out the reasons that these differences existed and how Coventry was working in a partnership approach, bringing together individuals, communities, organisations, businesses and universities, to reduce inequalities and improve health and wellbeing for all citizens.

The briefing note provided an update on progress with the recommendations contained in the Director of Public Health’s Annual Report 2017/18 ‘Healthier for Longer’ which explored securing healthier futures for the City’s communities. Much work had been done since the publication of the report and key achievements were detailed.

The briefing note also highlighted Coventry’s commitment to being a Marmot City since 2013. The Marmot City approach had recently been evaluated and the key findings of this evaluation were set out. The Marmot Steering Group members would be reviewing progress to date and agreeing the future of the membership and how to progress action on the Marmot Review recommendations in October 2019. 

The recommendations of the Director of Public Health’s Annual report were to:

1 - Review and revise the Marmot Action Plan taking account of the findings in the evaluation and considering how a One Coventry approach can help to embed partnership working and promote ownership of initiatives throughout organisations and community groups, and how using a place-based strategy as set out by Public Health England can facilitate effective action through civic, service and community interventions.

2 - Improve partnership-working with Place Directorate within Coventry City Council to ensure that public realm works and developments in the city take account of their potential impacts on health inequalities and use initiatives in a proactive way to reduce inequalities.

3 - Utilise community asset based approaches to improve health and wellbeing, maximising the legacy of City of Culture 2021.

4 - Ensure there are strong links with the Skills Board and Local Enterprise Partnership to promote skills development to enable Coventry citizens gain the necessary qualifications and skills to fill local jobs.

5 - Recognise and respond to barriers and challenges which may prevent people in some groups within Coventry from engaging with services which promote healthy lifestyles such as the ‘Coventry on the Move’ programme.

6 - Council and partners to embed an integrated early help offer which improves life chances for more vulnerable families.

7 - Evaluate the impact of the Year of Wellbeing and examine ways in which the Health and Wellbeing partnerships have raised the profile of health and wellbeing and maximise the legacy that can be achieved. 

8 - Maximise the opportunities available with the NHS as a key partner, through implementation of the NHS Plan around prevention and health inequalities and the Coventry and Warwickshire Health and Care partnership.

9 - Mobilise the 2019-2023 Health and Wellbeing Strategy to ensure that the priorities are addressed, utilising the population health framework to underpin change.

The briefing note highlighted that there was a range of work currently underway which would support the achievement of these recommendations with various examples were provided.

The presentation provided an overview of the report highlighting how the report had looked at the impact of a range of environmental, societal, and life style factors, and explored what Coventry was doing to tackle health inequalities, looking at current and future opportunities. An update was provided on progress with the recommendations from the previous year’s annual report. The presentation concluded with the recommendations, from this year’s report.  

The Board questioned the officer on a number of issues and responses were provided. Matters raised included:

·  A concern that there had not been a reduction in the gap in life expectancies and healthy life expectancies across the different areas of the city, so were people expecting too much from the Marmot work or was it too soon to see progress

·  Further information about the legacy of the City of Culture

·  A recommendation that the providers of leisure services in the city did not sell sugary drinks and snacks at leisure venues in the city

·  Further information about the public health agenda around housing

·  What was being done to ensure that the message about the benefits of exercise and not smoking was reaching all Coventry residents

·  The link between physical exercise and reducing the risk of dementia

·  The opportunities to take the game of Kabaddi into schools and communities.

RESOLVED that:

(1) The content and recommendations of the 2019 Director of Public Health’s Annual Report be noted.

(2) The key achievements of the last Director of Public Health’s Annual Report be noted.

(3) The dissemination of the report be supported.

(4) Then actions proposed be endorsed.

(5) The Cabinet Member for Public Health and Sport be recommended to request that the providers of leisure services in the city do not sell sugary drinks and snacks at leisure venues in the city, particularly those providers in receipt of Council grant funding.