Agenda item

Public Health Update

Members are asked to consider the information presented within the report and note the key issues described.

Minutes:

Dr Bruce Laurence addressed the Select Committee. A copy of the update can be found on their Minute Book and as an online appendix to these minutes, a summary of the update is set out below.

 

Injury Prevention

 

B&NES Injury Prevention Partnership is promoting the Child Accident Prevention Trust’s ‘Child Safety Week’ during 5th – 11th June. The theme for the week is Safe Child: Sharing is Caring and we will be encouraging families and professionals to play their part in keeping children safe by sharing their experience and knowledge of the practical things to do to help prevent injuries.  

 

Mental Health Awareness Week 8-15th May

 

This was a national promotion that had been well publicised and which provided an important opportunity to promote ways to maintain good mental health and challenge stigma around mental ill-health. With the theme of ‘Thriving or Surviving?’ this year’s campaign had been concerned with promoting the message that good mental health is much more than the absence of mental health problems and talking about mental health is important.

 

Within the Council the staff Health and Wellbeing Group arranged a series of free workshops for staff on a range of issues including workplace mindfulness, movement for the mind, food and mood, T’ai Chi and mental health awareness for managers.  As a part of this Public Health have also organised and delivered a series of Time to Change sessions for staff across a range of organisations including the CCG, RUH, Council, housing and third sector organisations.

 

Sexual health of young people in care needs assessment

 

The Sexual Health Board has recently completed a health needs assessment looking into the sexual health needs of Young People in Care in B&NES, developed in partnership with colleagues in the Council, RUH, Sirona and Virgin Care, and with significant input from young people.

 

The review found that there are good partnerships between a range of B&NES services and a strong commitment to ensuring that young people’s sexual health needs are met. The report makes a number of recommendations under five themed areas and an action plan has been developed to take the recommendations forward.

 

Two interesting studies from Scotland:

 

·  An analysis was done of the Scottish Health Surveys 1995-2012 with data from over 50,000 people in total. Disadvantaged social groups have greater alcohol-attributable harms compared with individuals from advantaged areas for given levels of alcohol consumption, even after accounting for different drinking patterns, obesity, and smoking status at the individual level.

 

Experiencing poverty may impact on health, not only through leading an unhealthy lifestyle but also as a direct consequence of poor material circumstances and psychosocial stresses. Poverty may therefore reduce resilience to disease, predisposing people to greater health harms of alcohol."

 

·  A study of over a quarter of a million people showed that cycling to work reduced all-cause mortality, mortality from cancer and cardiovascular disease by almost half. Commuting by walking showed lower levels of CVD mortality but to a lesser extent. These associations were independent of sex, age, deprivation, ethnicity, smoking status, recreational and occupational physical activity, sedentary behaviour, dietary patterns, and other confounding factors, including body mass index and comorbidities

 

Air pollution, specifically Nitrogen Dioxide, draft plans.

 

Government (DEFRA and DfT) has just publishedImproving air quality in the UK: tackling nitrogen dioxide in our towns and cities Draft UK Air Quality Plan for tackling nitrogen dioxide.”

 

It is an interesting document with much background information on sources and trends in NOx and sections on existing and new actions required of different bodies. 71 councils in England are likely to exceed legal limits based on modelling if no improvements made in mainly, but not entirely urban areas. B&NES is not included in the chart attached, but there is a specific exclusion of roads managed directly by Highways England which may explain.

 

Councillor Eleanor Jackson asked him to consider including within his next update preventative advice relating to incontinence.

 

Dr Bruce Laurence replied that he would consider providing further information on this matter.

 

Councillor Lin Patterson commented regarding the air pollution item that information should be given by Highways England.

 

Dr Bruce Laurence assured Councillor Patterson that other reporting and monitoring does take place and that his item was in relation to one particular document.

 

Councillor Tim Ball commented in relation to the alcohol study that the true menace to society was cheap cider and called upon the Government to increase the tax imposed on it.

 

Dr Bruce Laurence replied that this was a well recognised point.

 

The Chair thanked Dr Laurence for his update on behalf of the Select Committee.