Aiming High - improving health and well being

We want to create healthier communities where people have healthier lifestyles and where the inequalities in health are reduced. We will work with our partners to reduce the differences in health between Rochdale borough and the rest of the country, and between different parts of the borough and different groups of people.

Our challenge is to improve health and well being, which is one of our key priorities, because local people have poor levels of health:

  • Life expectancy is well below the national average, due to high rates of coronary heart disease, respiratory disease, stroke, cancers, injury and poisoning and high infant mortality
  • There is a ten year gap in life expectancy between different parts of the Borough
  • We have high rates of smoking and obesity

We will work with Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Primary Care Trust and other health and social care agencies to promote the well being of residents and reduce health inequalities. We have a particularly important role in addressing factors contributing to poor health such as housing, skills levels, economic participation, fear of crime, the environment and economic development.

Priorities

  • We will improve the physical and mental health of all our people by tackling priority health issues
  • We will reduce health inequalities
  • We will support healthy lifestyles
  • We will create a healthy environment
  • We will provide health services as close to people’s homes as possible
  • We will support vulnerable people to live independently

What we will do

We will:

  • Lead on the development of a Council strategy to improve health and well being
  • Work with other Greater Manchester areas to reduce health inequalities across the city region. We will undertake effective health scrutiny to improve local services and address health inequalities
  • Promote breastfeeding by providing baby-friendly environments
  • Continue to promote the Smoke Free Borough Initiative and smoking cessation to help reduce smoking related illnesses and deaths
  • Tackle the misuse of drugs and alcohol particularly by young people, and restrict young people’s access to alcohol
  • Improve mental health through mental health promotion initiatives for adults, and also for children and young people through the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS). We will develop services which are socially inclusive and facilitate the recovery of those suffering from mental health problems
  • Reduce obesity and promote healthy eating by including information on healthy eating and instruction on cooking healthy meals in the school curriculum and increase the number of schools achieving the new National Healthy Schools Status
  • Support people to make healthy choices by setting up a Books on Prescription scheme and also the opportunity to self-select information about health from a stock of books and information
  • Promote libraries as health information points, in partnership with local health agencies
  • Promote good oral health through education within schools, promoting healthy diets and the dissemination of good practice. We will investigate schemes to encourage dentists to work in the Borough by investing in the Borough to make it a more attractive place to work
  • Develop policies to create healthy neighbourhoods, workplaces and schools
  • Invest in new joint facilities and centres and involve the public and service users in the development and monitoring of these services. We will implement equality and diversity plans to ensure that our services are accessible and inclusive
  • Work with our partners to support people to come off incapacity benefit
  • Improve the take up of pension credit and related benefits
  • Support all vulnerable people to live at home, help older people to stay independent and continue our support for carers. We will develop extra care housing for older people
  • Promote the use of leisure facilities for physical activity, for example, Middleton Arena, parks
  • Promote the Healthy Living Initiative and the active transport policy
  • Promote well being through encouraging those at risk of exclusion from opportunities to participate in initiatives that contribute to well- being
  • Reduce the gap between our most deprived neighbourhoods and the rest of the borough on health inequalities
  • Improve the standard of homes occupied by vulnerable people, and improve their health and well being