Five-Year Plan Launched to Transform Lives of Staffordshire’s Residents

Cllr Robbie Marshall, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing

An ambitious five-year plan was officially launched this week (Thursday) by the Conservative controlled County Council to help transform the lives of people who live in Staffordshire.

The “Living Well in Staffordshire” strategy aims to focus on prevention, better care in the community, equal access to quality healthcare and addressing the wider factors, which impact on health.

Cllr Robbie Marshall, Joint Chair of Staffordshire’s Health and Wellbeing Board and Staffordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing, said the plan would result in a radical overhaul of how care is delivered.

Robbie said, “Our plan sets out how we want to see health and social care delivered in the county between now and 2018.  For far too long, we have prioritised spending around people once they need treatment in hospitals, when it would make much better sense to invest in preventing illness in the first place.  Helping people to make the right choice to lead healthier lives is essential.

“Wellbeing is influenced by a wide range of factors such as education, jobs, experience of crime and while Staffordshire is “healthier” than many other areas, this plan will help to reduce any inequalities that exist and provide people with appropriate quality care at every stage of their lives.”

The plan covers five key areas from birth to supporting residents continue to live an independent life for as long as possible in their twilight years.  This include supporting families to be active and eat well, reducing harm from avoidable causes such as alcohol, offering tailored support to help people live independently in the community and investment in dementia care.

Staffordshire’s Health and Wellbeing Board was set up in April 2013, and brings together partners across the public sector including county borough and district councils, clinical commissioning groups, public health, NHS and Healthwatch – to represent the views of patients.

The board meets today to officially launch the strategy and over the next 12 weeks, residents will have the chance to have their say on the plan.  Staffordshire has a population of around 850,000 and in the past decade the county has seen a surge in the number of people aged 65 and over.

If current trends continue, the cost of providing social care and NHS services would rise year on year and by 2018 it forecast that an extra £62m a year would be need to meet the social care bill alone.

Cllr Marshall added, “The issue of funding adult social care is a growing national concern and in Staffordshire we have been quick to react to the challenge with the NHS and the county council working together to provide integrated care.

“We want to support people in the community to live independent, fulfilled lives and believe this plan gives us an unprecedented opportunity to radically overhaul how health and social care is delivered and really transform the lives of people in Staffordshire.”

Have Your Say

Residents can also access a summary and full versions of the plan, find out more and share their views about the “Living Well in Staffordshire” plan by visiting www.engagingcommunitiesstaffordshire.co.uk/conversation-staffordshire

Other ways to ‘Have Your Say’ on the Living Well In Staffordshire Five Year Plan include

Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ConversationStaffordshire

Twitter https://twitter.com/convostaffs