Director of Public Health Annual Report 09/10:
This is the third annual public health report for NHS Hastings and Rother and NHS East Sussex Downs and Weald and East Sussex County Council (ESCC). This report focuses on older people’s health and wellbeing and emphasise the importance of the quality of services provided for them.
Chapter 2 describes the population, such as the proportions of people aged 65 and over living in different areas of East Sussex. It also provides data on the numbers of older people experiencing poverty in East Sussex and how this impacts on their use of services and the inequalities in health. In East Sussex we have the highest proportion of older people of any county in England and we need to ensure that there is a balance between commissioning services where greatest concentration of older people live and also targeting the areas where older people are likely to be in the greatest need because of social isolation, income deprivation and being aged over 85 years.
Chapter 3 focuses on data concerning life expectancy and mortality of older people. There are technical notes in appendix 1 to help understand how this data is measured and interpreted. There is a variation in life expectancy across East Sussex and work needs to continue to target the Investing in Life Programme in areas of lowest life expectancy.
Chapter 4 describes the pattern of illnesses that older people tend to develop such as stroke, dementia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and the services provided to treat them. Recommendations are made for the local variations in conditions such as COPD, hospital admissions and falls to be reviewed by Practice Based Commissioning (PBC) clusters to consider alternative service provisions in the community.
Chapter 5 reviews activities for promoting healthy old age and describes work being carried out in East Sussex on areas such as stopping smoking, eating a healthy diet and taking exercise, taking part in screening programmes and having an annual flu jab with the overall benefit of adding years to life and life to years. It’s never too late to improve health by stopping smoking.
Chapter 6 describes the range of quality initiatives that have been taking place and are in development.
Finally, chapter 7 outlines how we work across health and social care in order to improve the health and wellbeing of older people in East Sussex. It is my intention that the findings of this annual public health report will be used by these to inform the future commissioning of services for older people to better meet their needs.
Director of Public Health Annual Report 08/09:
The main focus of this report is the health and wellbeing of children and young people in East Sussex and the health issues they face. Infancy, childhood and young adulthood are stages of life when people develop habits which will affect people’s health in later years.
The reports begin with an introduction to children’s health and then paint a picture of what life is like for children and young people in our area, including where they live and in what conditions, and how that affects their health.
Chapter three has details of how the needs of children fit into the main areas of work being done to improve the health of the population as a whole: reducing the numbers of people who smoke; tackling obesity; improving sexual health; improving mental health and wellbeing; reducing alcohol harm and encouraging sensible drinking; and helping children and young people to lead healthy lives. This chapter also has examples of services available and the work being carried out to help children and young people lead as healthy lives as possible.
Chapter four gives us a breakdown of how many children and young people in our area are dying and the reasons why and chapter five describes what life is like for some of the most vulnerable children in East Sussex including those living with long-term disease, teenage parents, looked after children and children and young people who are caring for others in their family.
In chapters six and seven we look at what we plan to do to help improve the health of children and young people.
Director of Public Health Annual Report 07/08:
This was the first Director of Public Health Annual Report since the inception of the new Primary Care Trusts in October 2006.
This report identifies the important public health issues facing the people living in East Sussex and makes recommendations on the actions that will be needed in the coming year to improve their health.
