Independent and Healthy Lives

Updated May 2008

This theme sets out objectives for helping people to live independent and healthy lives in the borough.

Vision

South Tyneside is a place where many people enjoy health, uncompromised by unhealthy lifestyles, environmental hazards and poor economic circumstances.

We want South Tyneside to be healthier, where people live longer because of the changes they have made in their lifestyles and improvements in other factors that affect their health.

Policy story

UK government policy is now focusing on health in a wider, more holistic way. Improving health is everyone's responsibility. Emphasis is on the prevention of illness rather than just the treatment of disease. This takes health beyond the realm of solely the NHS and into the community.

Policy documents such as Choosing Health, Opportunity Age, and Sure Start for Older People and the National Service Framework for Older People all highlight the need for a focus on health prevention. Older people want more choice and control, and better access to health and social care services. Aspirations reflected in Our Health, Our Care, Our Say.

Priority objectives and performance

We have a clear and focused set of objectives that we need to achieve over the long term to deliver our vision. 

We have identified top priorities for our Independent and Healthy Lives partnership - our priority objectives. 

These are the things on which we believe we can make the biggest and most sustainable impact and these are the things we will focus on improving first. 

These are the priority objectives that have been set for 2008-20011 (our top ten outcomes are in bold):

  • Improving the health and wellbeing of older people
  • Reducing health inequalities by
    • Reducing smoking
    • Reducing obesity
    • Reducing alcohol harm 
  • Improving mental and emotional health in adults
  • Increasing life expectancy (particularly in males)
  • Improving support and services for carers and respite care
  • Increasing service user involvement
  • Helping people to live independently at home
  • Preventative care

Key information

Teenage pregnancy rates have reduced significantly. Our most recent figures place South Tyneside as the second best performing area nationally and the best performing regionally.

The number of over 85s is projected to increase from around 3,300 in 2007 to 5,400 twenty years later – a 64% increase. This means an additional 2,000 older people over 85 possibly needing support and care services.

Cancer and circulatory disease trends are decreasing and we expect to meet our 2010 target reduction of 40% and 20% respectively.
Infant mortality is lower than both the regional and national average.

Death rates across all age groups are also decreasing, although we still need to reduce the death rate more quickly to narrow the health inequality gap with the national average.

Next update due: April 2009

Links to key plans and strategies

Independent and Healthy Lives

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