It is important to understand the health needs of our population, the care we provide, and any issues with workforce and finances.
Our health challenges
- Our communities are very diverse, and many people face complex issues that affect their health and wellbeing:
- Higher numbers of people with mental health problems
- Adult and child obesity, combined with low levels of physical activity
- High infant mortality, combined with high levels of smoking in pregnancy and low breastfeeding rates
- High numbers of long-term conditions like dementia, respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and relatively high numbers of ‘preventable’ deaths from these conditions
- Hospital admissions from substance misuse
- Rising numbers of older people, combined with more households living in fuel poverty which can make health conditions worse
- Health inequalities around life expectancy and healthy life expectancy are not improving
Our service quality challenges
- Timely access to services challenged by increasing demands – for example access to GP appointments, mental health services and some cancer services
- Delivering high quality services across seven days
- Providing care and treatment focusing on the whole person, including their physical and mental health needs
- Supporting our current workforce and encouraging more people to work in the NHS locally, as many doctors and nurses are nearing retirement age or are leaving for other reasons
- Providing the highest quality services, in the right place at the right time
Our financial challenges
- If we continue with our current service model, the system will be financially unsustainable in five years
- Historical underinvestment in estates and infrastructure means we need significant investment now to get up-to-date and fit for the future
- Service demand and costs have risen for hospital-based care
- Subsequent underinvestment in mental health, community and primary care services
- Significant financial pressures facing councils, particularly around Public Health, Adult Social Care and Children’s Social Care services
