Gateshead Health and Wellbeing Strategy

We know our health and care services are changing, and demand is increasing as our population gets older and technology advances. We must make sure that our services support everyone's needs. We will involve local communities and the voluntary and community sector in the planning of services to reflect local priorities and needs. We will integrate our health and care services whilst ensuring they are placed based and bespoke to the needs of individuals.

Our health and care system will measure success in terms of improved wellbeing, independence and social connections. We will try to move existing resources away from expensive acute care provision, so we can reinvest in prevention and early treatment and support measures, in line with the NHS 10 year plan. We will keep people who need complex support, living at, or near, home, to have the support of their family and community.

The action we will take

We will:

• prioritise funding for the prevention of ill-health that can lead to high-cost treatment and support at all levels 
• embed the local VCSE organisations in ill health prevention, planning and delivery
• work together to join up how we plan, make decisions and offer health, social care and housing services, to respond to needs where people live
• address inequalities in how we design, commission and deliver our services, to include how we think about health literacy and other barriers to accessing services and support 
• make sure that no-one is living in unhealthy or unsafe accommodation 
• reduce the scale and harm from alcohol, tobacco and drugs
• reduce the harm that industries and their products cause to people, and challenge messages that make harmful industries or products seem normal or blame people instead of the industry, such as alcohol, gambling and junk food
• design how we work, and what we do recognising and facilitating effective social prescribing approaches
• adopt a system-wide Make Every Contact Count approach
• support people to age well by making physical activity part of their daily lives, increasing strength and wellbeing, through active environments, groups and communities 
• shift to use of technology and digital in our systems, in a way that supports prevention, without excluding our residents 
• prevent unnecessary lives lost through suicide 
• monitor the health of people in Gateshead using long-term measures

We will deliver this through:

• Gateshead Health and Care System Board 
• Commissioning Strategy 
• Housing Strategy
• Physical Activity strategy 
• Drug and Alcohol Strategy (in development)
• Local VCSE organisations 
• Gateshead Smoke free, Healthy Weight and Alcohol Alliances
• Integrated Adults and Social Care Strategy
• Adult Caregivers Strategy
• Tackling Poverty Together Partnership Strategy and Action Plan
• Suicide Prevention Partnership (in development)
• Gateshead NHS Foundation Trust Strategy
• CNTW Strategy
• Multi-Agency Safeguarding Arrangements
• Northeast and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board Clinical Conditions Plan and Quality Strategy

We know we will have made a difference when:

• all preventable ill health in Gateshead is reduced 
• we close the gap in inequalities within the borough 
• all residents will be able to access flexible health and care support, when and where they need it.