Gateshead Health and Wellbeing Strategy (Draft update)
Our approach
To achieve our vision, we know the importance of working together, across Gateshead, with communities, breaking down boundaries between organisations and services. This joint local Health and Wellbeing strategy is our shared ambition to close the health gap in Gateshead, it is a key enabling partnership strategy, using our collective resources, to drive forward improving health outcomes for everyone.
Our Strategy has been developed and agreed by our strategic partners. It will be delivered with the different organisations in the Gateshead Health and Wellbeing Board through all of our combined existing strategies, policies and plans, with our health and wellbeing vision and principles embedded in everything we do.
Our health and wellbeing is shaped by the world around us. Building a healthy society is like constructing a strong and sturdy building. We need the right building blocks in place. Building blocks like good jobs, safe homes and neighbourhoods, good quality and easy-to-access services, supportive friends and families and more.
To effectively reduce the health gap, we must understand where building blocks are missing or broken, so that we can see the opportunities for action.
We know that improving health and wellbeing in Gateshead means focusing on the specific needs, strengths, and circumstances of each local area. A one-size-fits-all approach doesn't work. Instead, we need to use a place-based approach that brings together different parts of the system to work in a joined-up way.
Population intervention triangle
The Population Intervention Triangle helps us understand how this approach can work. It shows three types of action that, when combined, can make a bigger difference than any one on its own.
Civic-level interventions are strategic actions taken by local authorities or other public sector bodies like the Police, Fire and Rescue and welfare agencies which aim to improve population health by changing the wider environment in which people live. Examples of this include regulation, planning policy, alcohol licensing and housing standards.
Service-based interventions are public services delivered by the NHS, local authorities, or other organisations, including the voluntary and community sector, to support individuals directly, for example hospital services and social care and support services.
Community-centred interventions recognise the vital contribution that the community themselves make to health and wellbeing, for example community-based support including peer support or faith groups or local health champions and volunteers.
Working in this way means we don't treat these three areas as separate. Instead, we connect them, making sure everything we do is joined-up and tailored to local needs. When civic, service-based, and community-led actions come together through place-based planning, we can make a bigger impact on reducing health inequalities.
We will use our insight from our Local Index of Need (LIoN) and work together with local communities and those with lived experience, to help us understand the relative needs of different places and people. This will support us in identifying and developing appropriate interventions and where they would be best targeted within local communities.
In addition to geographically defined communities, we will also consider the needs of diverse communities and those experiencing health inequalities, to develop approaches together which tackle the health gap. An example of this approach in action:
Food Insecurity and Health in Gateshead
The North East has the second highest food insecurity rate in England. Rising food inflation has hit healthy staples hardest—nutritious foods cost 2-3 times more per calorie than unhealthy ones. Our food environments promote ultra-processed, cheap options high in salt, fat, and sugar.
Diet-related disease is a leading cause of illness and preventable early death. In Gateshead, only half of adults eat enough fruit and veg; children eat even less. Obesity affects 37.9% of Year 6 children and 68.4% of adults, with higher rates in deprived areas. Food insecurity leads to unhealthy diets, disordered eating, nutrient deficiencies, and barriers to planning, cooking and eating healthy food.
Civic-level interventions
Gateshead Council has had a planning policy to limit new fast-food takeaways near schools and in areas with high obesity rates. This has helped improve children's health - especially in the most deprived areas, where a Lancaster University study showed a 4.8% drop in obesity rates compared to similar places without the policy.
Service-based interventions
Over 30 local organisations provide emergency food support, from large charities to small community groups. With support from government funding and the council, they are working together to make sure no one goes hungry or cold. Residents can also get financial help directly from the council; all who are eligible for Free School Meals receive vouchers in the holidays; and Citizens Advice Gateshead are based at food banks to offer support and help prevent future crises.
Community-centred interventions
Community groups across Gateshead are working to improve access to healthy food and reduce diet-related health inequalities. Through cooking classes, food education, food growing projects, places and events to share food together, these initiatives are helping people build skills, confidence and connections around nutritious, affordable food. Many of these projects come together through Gateshead Food Partnership to share ideas, learning, resources and skills.