Councillors have agreed an ambitious plan that sets out how Cumberland Council will put health and wellbeing at the heart of its services, and work towards being be an exemplar council in this field.
The focus on health and wellbeing was first made by the authority last year in its Council Plan. This document sets out the key council priorities for the next four years and has as its core ambition to ‘improve the health and wellbeing of our residents’.
Therefore, leading councillors on the Executive Committee have this week [5 September 2023] agreed a framework that sets out how this will be achieved.
The framework sets out three main priorities and five focus areas. This will see the council take a leadership role within the local community by making sure that improving health and wellbeing is embedded in its activities and considered when making decisions.
A strategic communications plan will seek to focus on a small number of themes over the year, whilst the council will also seek to ensure every contact counts so that front-line staff can help people make positive changes to their behaviour.
A happy, healthy workforce will not only be more likely to deliver successful services, but also be more productive and advocates for the council and Cumberland area. So the framework also sets out the importance of putting the health and wellbeing of its employees at the forefront of its HR and recruitment strategy.
A working group has already been set-up which has been looking at identifying specific actions that will be taken by managers, teams and directorates and how they will be implemented.
Speaking at the meeting which was held in Carlisle, Cllr Martin Harris , Portfolio Holder for Adults and Community Health, said: “Adoption of this Framework and Summary Plan for Health and Wellbeing by the Council Executive is an important step on the road of turning our strapline ‘Health and Wellbeing at the heart of everything we do’ into action; whether it is by training our staff and members in how they can help improve public health or looking after the health and wellbeing of our own council workers or one of the many other actions listed in this framework, this is the way forward.”