New Health and Wellbeing Strategy for Central Bedfordshire
Sunday, 6 January 2019
Improving mental health and wellbeing, giving people the support they need to help themselves and preparing for housing growth are all key priorities in Central Bedfordshire Health and Wellbeing Board
The Strategy, which is written to drive change to meet the changing needs of local people, runs until 2023. It sets out three key areas of focus over the coming five years.
Councillor Brian Spurr, Executive Member for Public Health, said: "The new Strategy has been written at a time of great change for health and care services, but we’re all agreed on the three areas we need to focus on.”
“We are passionate about mental health and wellbeing and want to start early to reduce the likelihood of people developing poor mental health, as well as supporting those who already need it. It’s about making sure the right support is available to promote good mental health and, for those who need more specialist treatment, getting them access to appropriate services quickly."
Councillor Spurr went on: "Also, helping people to make positive changes to their lifestyle can really reduce their likelihood of developing long term health conditions. Helping people to help themselves can be hugely empowering, especially for those do have long term conditions – we want them to have the skills to manage the condition themselves and take positive action to improve their own quality of life."
The strategy also focuses on the fact that there are plans to deliver up to 43,000 new homes between 2015 and 2035 across the area, and health and social care provision needs to keep up. Development on this scale presents opportunities to improve health and wellbeing for the whole population, by creating places that promote health, by improving access to affordable housing, and by providing appropriate housing for people with specific health and mobility needs.
The Health and Wellbeing Strategy was endorsed by our Executive yesterday (Tuesday, 5 February).