Agenda item

The North East Area Council Community Development Officer introduced this item and explained that Health and Wellbeing has been identified as a priority for the North East Area Council and the Cudworth, Monk Bretton, North East and Royston Ward Alliances.  As part of the North East Area Council’s performance monitoring a detailed report for 2016/17 has between drawn up to focus on all the health and wellbeing related initiatives and projects that have been funded through the North East Area Council and the four Ward Alliances. 

In terms of the North East Area Council Health Profile, life expectancy for men is 77 years and 80 years for women.  28% of deaths are attributable to cardiovascular disease, 27% to cancer and 19% to respiratory diseases.  Risk factors include smoking (18%), high blood pressure (14%) and high cholesterol (10%).

In the ensuing discussion, particular reference was made to the following:  49 health projects have been funded, 10 of which were sports projects, and 7 gardening clubs have been supported.  £23,705 of funding has been made towards ‘Reds in the Community’ sports projects, 65 health indicators have been met and active volunteer hours total 2,242, all of which contribute to Public Health Outcomes such as improving the wider determinants of health, health protection, health improvement and preventing premature mortality. 

Links have been made with local health practitioners and exciting new projects are underway to combat social isolation and promote health and fitness.  South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (SYFRS) has been involved in developing a pilot project to deliver ‘safe and well checks’, mainly in the North East Area, which will be rolled out to rest of Barnsley later on – more details will be provided at a future meeting.

It was reported that the ‘Men in Sheds’ project has been very successful, with new premises being sought, and should be widely promoted.  Reference was made to the role of ‘Social Prescribers’ in the community and the need to ensure that there is no overlap with current services so as to make best use of public funds.  It was felt that Social Prescribers should be invited to a future meeting and the possibility of developing a health and wellbeing steering group, to coordinate work across communities, many of whom are not well served by public transport, was also discussed.

RESOLVED that the North East Area Council Health related outputs and outcomes are noted.