a. Maggie Rae, Joint Director of Public Health, Wiltshire Council, will present the results of the recent Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) for the Salisbury Community Area.
b. The Chairman will feedback on the outcomes of the Health Fair and Workshop held on 10 May.
Minutes:
The Chairman referred to the Health Fair which had been held on 10 May. This had been well attended and had included 28 exhibitors. A highlight had been an opportunity for a group of children to use red dye to see the effects of brushing their teeth.
The Chairman welcomed Maggie Rae, Director of Public Heath, and Mary-Ann McKibben who were in attendance to give a presentation on the findings of the recent Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) which had sought to identify local needs in relation to health and well-being.
The main points raised were as follows:
· There were a number of areas within Salisbury with a high level of deprivation. This was often a cause or indicator of major health issues, including smoking, obesity, and lower life expectancy.
· In general, life expectancy in Salisbury was lower than other Community Areas in Wiltshire. Life expectancy for men in Salisbury was 77.9 years, compared to the Wiltshire average of 79.3 years.
· Salisbury also demonstrated a high level of hospital admissions related to alcohol, with an estimated 1,914 admissions per 100,000 people compared to the estimated Wiltshire average of 1,324.
· “Self reported health” was also lower than average, with only 68.8% of people in the Salisbury area saying they were in “good” or “very good” health, compared to 76.8% across Wiltshire as a whole.
· Salisbury compared favourably with the rest of the county in relation to having high levels of screening for chlamydia, and also as regards low levels of stroke admissions to hospital.
· Salisbury compared less favourably in terms of purchasing of fruit (high number spending less than £2 per week on fruit), asthma admissions to hospital, coronary heart disease admissions to hospital, and children’s dental health.
The next steps following the completion of the JSNA would be to hold events such as the Health Fair, and other workshops to identify the priority areas as determined by the local community. These could then be reflected in the Community Plan, and used to inform the development of a strategy for the Wiltshire Health and Wellbeing Partnership. There would also be opportunities for grant funding to be sought to address the main areas identified.
The Chairman thanked Maggie and Mary-Ann for the presentation and invited questions and comments from the floor:
· It was noted that the main areas where Salisbury compared less favourably with the rest of Wiltshire were characteristic of an urban area, which faced different problem to those of sparsely populated, rural areas.
· Input would be sought from local groups to help identify innovative and new ways of addressing the issues raised through the JSNA.
· In relation to the sample sizes used to gather the data in the JSNA, this varied depending on the subject. For example, statistics for child obesity and hospital admissions were based on 100% of the population, while other areas such as domestic violence could only be based on known figures, and it was likely that there were additional, hidden, statistics.
· It was noted that studies showed that incidents of domestic violence were often not reported until the thirtieth occasion. The Primary Care Trust was working with partner agencies in the Domestic Abuse Delivery Group to identify cases much earlier, through helplines, women’s refuges, and training for various professional groups such as doctors.
· Matthew Kershaw, Chief Executive of Salisbury Foundation Hospital, expressed his support for the JSNA.
Maggie emphasised that the presentation was only an overview of the JSNA and that further information could be presented at a future meeting of the Area Board if required. Copies of the JSNA document were available at the back of the meeting room, and further information could be found at www.wiltshirejsna.org.