Cumberland Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2023 to 2028

Why is this important?

As we move through our lives, we are constantly adopting behaviours that can impact on the health and wellbeing of us as individuals, those we live and socialise with, as well as those we care for, including our children and people with disabilities. 

Even before we are born, the behaviours of our parents around factors such as diet and smoking can impact on our long-term health. The first 1000 days of life are a critical time when the foundations of optimum health, growth and neurodevelopment across the life course are established.  

Throughout childhood, our working lives and as we age, maintaining a healthy weight, being active and smoke/drug free, drinking alcohol within recommended levels and experiencing good mental wellbeing (including good social connections) are all important to maintaining good health.

These factors used to be viewed as ‘lifestyle choices’, however we recognise that people’s life experiences and the environments in which they live significantly influence their behaviours and the choices they are able to make.

Empowering people to take personal control and responsibility for their health and wellbeing requires a whole community approach. We need to increase opportunities to achieve positive change by supporting people and communities to build on their own skills and knowledge and their communities’ assets - a move from preventing illness to promoting wellness; and from a ‘doing to’ culture to a ‘doing with’ culture.

Community-centred approaches are key to building resilient and flourishing individuals, families and communities. Resilience reduces the impact that the stresses of life have on our wellbeing, keeping us happy, healthy and independent for longer.

From the clinical perspective, there is increasing evidence and recognition that a ‘More than Medicine’ approach is required, which seeks to mainstream non-clinical interventions such as volunteering and community friendship groups. This requires a culture change across health and social care to one in which alternative services accessed via social prescribing are seen as real alternatives to help people manage their own conditions better.

Priority areas

• Giving children the best start in life: with a focus on integrated prevention and early help approaches and the ‘think family’ model  
• Improving emotional and mental health and wellbeing for children and adults: with a focus on social isolation, loneliness and suicide prevention 
• Promoting healthy weight, good nutrition and being active: with a focus on children and young people 
• Supporting people to live well and age well within their communities 
• Tackling addictions: with an emphasis on smoking, alcohol and drugs

What sort of things are we going to do?

• Programmes to increase early intervention and prevention for mental and emotional wellbeing 
• Developing the Think Family model
• Develop social prescribing options for physical and emotional wellbeing
• Redesign of services aimed at families including the 0-19 Healthy Child Programme, Early Help and Family Hubs
• Targeted support for children and young people who need it most such as cared for children and those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
• Further development and integration of Social Prescribing services across Cumberland
• Transform local stop smoking services with new investment in pharmacy support and access to vaping kits
• Targeted work on smoking in specific high-prevalence communities
• Increased work with maternity and health visiting services to reduce smoking during and after pregnancy
• Develop multi agency approaches to address the complex nature of drug, alcohol and gambling related harms
• Targeted support with complex addiction issues for excluded groups such as those experiencing homelessness
• Review and recommission sexual health services 
• Increase access to open spaces for play and physical activity through the development of an integrated active wellbeing approach
• Develop more active travel options and encouraging walking and cycling 
• Increase opportunities for physical activity
• Develop a Cumberland food partnership
• Targeted multi-agency work to address vaping amongst children and young people
• Multi agency approaches to addressing domestic abuse
• Supporting people to access the right support to prepare for dying and for bereavement

How are we going to measure progress?

• Excess weight in Reception and Year 6 pupils
• Smoking prevalence in adults
• Vaping rates amongst young people
• Self-reported measures of social connection and mental wellbeing (e.g. via coaching services) 
• Percentage of physically active or inactive adults
• Rate of hospital admissions for alcohol-related conditions
• Rate of people being admitted to hospital for substance misuse harms
• Breastfeeding - initiation and at 6-8 weeks
• School readiness
• Self-reported mental wellbeing scores