Our short-term focus
We have identified three areas of focus that emerged through our JSNA and the conversations we had with communities and key partners. These are specific areas where we want to make a tangible difference in the next 12-18 months by working together in partnership. We know that there is a wealth of great work already being done in these areas and our challenge is to add value as partners by making connections and creating energy and momentum to upscale existing activity. We will look at each area through the lens of our population health framework, identifying how each component contributes to addressing the issue and links to the others. We think that these are all areas that – if we make a difference here – will impact positively on other health and wellbeing issues and priorities for the city.
1. Loneliness and social isolation
The Campaign to End Loneliness cites growing research evidence about the detrimental impact of loneliness and social isolation on health and wellbeing:
“Loneliness and social isolation are harmful to our health: research shows that lacking social connections is as damaging to our health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day (Holt-Lunstad, 2015). Social networks and friendships not only have an impact on reducing the risk of mortality or developing certain diseases, but they also help individuals to recover when they do fall ill (Marmot, 2010). Loneliness increases the likelihood of mortality by 26%.”
Tackling loneliness and social isolation can also help to reduce the burden on health and care services, building resilience that enables people to remain independent for longer and addressing social needs outside of formal settings.
We know from our engagement that loneliness and social isolation affects people of all ages and there is a real opportunity for partners to work together differently to empower communities and individuals to become better connected and more resilient in combating loneliness and isolation.
We will:
- tackle the social, economic and environmental barriers to connectedness throughout the life course, including poverty
- facilitate, empower and work with existing networks and social activities that promote healthy lifestyles
- understand, mobilise and strengthen local community assets to prevent loneliness and social isolation
- build on community-based integrated care models such as Out of Hospital care models (including care navigators) and social prescribing
2. Young people’s mental health and wellbeing
Nationally the latest evidence suggests that one in 10 young people have some form of diagnosable mental health condition and that children with a mental health problem face unequal chances in their lives. According to Coventry and Warwickshire Children and Young People’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Transformation Plan 2015 – 2020, children’s mental health problems are four times more common in the poorest income households than the highest, especially among boys. The city-wide Joint Strategic Needs Assessment highlights mental health issues amongst the complex needs facing many young people known to youth offending services.
Long waiting lists and a lack of access to specialist and urgent care are key concerns locally, especially when crossing the barrier between adolescent mental health and adult mental health, and there are known pressures on acute child and adolescent mental health services at University Hospital. The CAMHS Transformation Plan also reports that, in Coventry, mental health problems are presenting at younger ages, offering opportunities for intervention, resilience building and practical support which will have lifelong impact.
There are real opportunities for partners to work together differently to develop preventative strategies to tackle the causes of mental ill health amongst children and young people, as well as provide more effective support to young people at risk of, or experiencing, mental ill health.
We will take a whole system approach to children’s mental health and wellbeing, by:
- Developing a comprehensive approach to early intervention across all partners
- Developing a collective and system-wide understanding of children and young people at risk
- Developing an overarching system-wide plan, with partners working together to target early intervention resources in a more co-ordinated way; and to prevent crisis by providing timely and appropriate support for children’s mental health.
3. Working differently with our communities
Our engagement with communities and community organisations during the JSNA and Health and Wellbeing Strategy development has revealed an appetite for a change in approach to how we work together in our places and with our communities. This means working together, with communities, to improve people’s lives and the city for the better. Communities want to be part of the change and want to work with statutory partners, not to be “done to”, which means changing traditional relationships. This is in line with the Council’s One Coventry approach, whereby the Council will be working with partners and the public, sharing resources and looking for opportunities to work together and do things differently.
There is a real opportunity to mobilise health and wellbeing solutions through assets that already exist in our communities, and to work together collaboratively to make the biggest positive impact that we can on the lives of local people. We want to see a shift in culture and behaviours amongst statutory partners which will include:
- Empowering and enabling community solutions by valuing the community leaders who have trust, networks, understanding and legitimacy; and getting behind existing partnerships
- Facilitating forums and networks to enable better collaboration and communication between public and third sector partners and within the third sector, by helping partners and communities share what they do and learn from, and build partnerships with, each other
- Taking forward work to change the way we commission services to better recognise social value
- Providing practical support to strengthen the community sector, including by pooling resources to build capacity and connections and enable communities to maximise social action
Central to this area of focus will be ensuring more effective engagement with, and involvement of, groups and populations that may be under-represented and more difficult to engage with within our diverse communities. A renewed focus on working with our communities to mobilise solutions will cause us to talk to, and work more closely with, representative groups and organisations.
What difference can partners make?
Place-based Joint Strategic Needs Assessments
In 2018, Coventry Health and Wellbeing Board agreed to take a place-based approach to the JSNA, based around the eight family hub geographies, reflecting both national policy direction towards population-based health and care systems (based on populations of 30-50k) and a sub-regional move in Warwickshire towards a place-based approach. The JSNA is also being used as a vehicle for engaging and involving local partners and stakeholders, to give more in-depth understanding of the assets and needs of geographical areas within the city and support programmes and strategies which are founded on community resilience and service delivery at locality level.
Over the next two years locality profiles will be developed, based on the collection of ‘hard’ evidence from data sources, as well as consultation with local stakeholders - organisations and individuals - to understand the key issues facing local communities. The first two locality profiles – for the ‘Moat’ and ‘Families for All’ Family Hub areas – will be published summer 2019.
This local community focus and understanding provides a valuable basis through which to mobilise community solutions by building networks and increasing the visibility and connections between existing activities.