The Director of Public Health gave an overview of the report stating that it can be difficult to make a case for prevention as the evidence of its success is the absence of ill health and there is a significant periodbefore the benefits of prevention programmes become apparent. We are aware that 60-70% of the disease burden is caused by wider determinants of health such as poverty and lack of education.  But 36% of the disease burden is caused by lifestyle risks such as smoking, obesity, lack of physical exercise and excessive alcohol consumption. The Director asked the Panel to consider how to embed prevention across the council, how can we use campaigns and resources to have the maximum impact on health and how we can use licensing and planning to improve health and wellbeing

The Consultant in Public Health said the team has a role in commissioning targeted services with priority placed on the early years as ensuring children have a strong foundation for their adult years has long term benefits. Public Health therefore supports work in children’s centres and schools.

Madeleine Sword – Healthy Schools Cluster Development Manger Eastsaid schools are at the heart of the local community and a number of projects have been developed targeted at pupils, parents and school staff. Programmes include; get fit get active, cooking, gardening and top-up swimming lessons.

The Consultant in Public Health said they were also focussing on work places and Merton is signed up to the London Healthy Work Place Charter. We are also working with Wimbledon Chamber of Commerce to reach out to smaller businesses and organisations.  Diana Sterck, Chief Executive, Merton Chamber of Commerce said their organisation support this initiative because if people are healthy at work they are able to perform better in their role. The Chamber of Commerce raises awareness of the corporate benefits of having healthy staff and provides businesses with the tools they need to implement changes required. The scheme promotes healthy work place champions,  links to other organisations to deal with stress and back pain and encourages businesses to implement small changes which can have a significant impact such as eating fruit rather than biscuits and innovative ideas such as walking  meetings rather than sitting down.

The Consultant in Public Health said the team also support a number of projects in the community such as health champions and Live Well, a healthy lifestyle service which includes behaviour change specialists and stop smoking services. The service has supported over 3000 people in Merton, and smoking cessation rates are increasing, contrary to most other areas.

The Consultant in Public Health said they are also working to embed public health across the council by working with licensing and planning to try and create healthier choices on the high streets.

A panel member asked what influence public health can have on planning. The Director of Public Health said they can provide the evidence about links between unhealthy food outlets and proximity to schools.  Politicians also have an important role to play in this agenda as they consider what impact planning and licensing applications will have on their local communities.

A panel member said that she was pleased that a planning application for a twenty four hour off licence was rejected in her ward.

A panel member asked how we motivate GP’s. The Director of Public Health said we are working with GP’s to embed prevention, the council in partnership with Merton Clinical Commissioning Group and GP’s are currently running a pro-active GP pilot, which is working on smoking cessation and early detection of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, if it is successful it will rolled out more widely and include other long-term conditions. The voluntary sector is also a partner providing health champions who give simple health advice.

A panel member said it is important to encourage people to take responsibility for their own health. SierienRazak, Live Well Health Improvement Coordinator/Health Trainer said trying to change habits is important, helping people to become motivated and set their own goals, this is the environment in which they will take action.  The Consultant in Public Health said that in order for individual behaviour change to be effective, it is important to concurrently work to change the cultural norms, for instance taking the example of alcohol;  an Identification and Brief Advice project around alcohol  is taking place in other London boroughs which will also be implemented in Merton. This targets young people and helps them to recognise how much alcohol they are drinking compared with the national guidelines. 

Panel members asked how we are tackling the unhealthy food options that are provided by food banks, the number of allotments that remain unused and how we measure success in smoking cessation.

In response it was reported that public health is working with Sustainable Merton to encourage food growing. Food Banks are an unfortunate necessity during these difficult times, however the public health team are about to begin working with supermarkets to re-distribute their unused fruit and vegetables through one initiative. Smoking cessation is measured on a four week quit which is the national standard; the public health team are currently looking at the twelve month rate and supporting those who have tried to quit a number of times in the past. Live well are also trying to attract long term smokers into services.

RESOLVED

Recognising the importance of prevention the Panel thanked officers for their work and asked for future updates.