Creating opportunities for residents to spend more time outdoors, enabling people to be more physically active and creating healthy and resilient workforces are among the plans for improving community health and wellbeing.
The new Health & Wellbeing strategy - HealthyAW - sets out three priorities, working with partners, community groups and businesses to support the communities of Adur and Worthing to thrive in the post-COVID pandemic landscape.
While the strategy sets out plans for improving health and wellbeing for all, the priority will be the communities with the poorest health and wellbeing which have been the hardest hit by the pandemic.
Among the plans set out in the strategy, include:
- developing Going Local, a network of social prescribers who work closely with GPs to connect people into a range of community resources to tackle non-medical issues, like loneliness, which can have a detrimental impact on a person's health.
- extending the reach of Adur & Worthing Wellbeing - a free service which supports residents to adopt healthier behaviours - to harder to reach and marginalised members of the communities
- continuing to build on and support the work of the food groups to ensure everyone has access to food
- delivering programmes to tackle the drivers of poverty, such as the Good Work scheme to connect people with employment opportunities, and Money Mentors which supports people experiencing financial difficulties.
Additional priorities set out in the new strategy are increasing access to green spaces for people to enjoy the benefits of physical activity, as well as creating collaborative spaces for communities and entrepreneurs to work together on projects which benefit local residents.
This is supported by a focus on building healthy workplaces, by empowering local employers to strengthen staff wellbeing.
The two and a half year strategy for Adur and Worthing has been written to align with the West Sussex Joint Health and Wellbeing strategy 2019-2024 and was adopted by Members of the Councils' Joint Strategic Committee at a meeting last week (7th September 2021).
HealthyAW will be integrated across the Councils' work programmes, including housing and planning, to ensure the health and wellbeing of residents remain paramount. It also aligns with SustainableAW, a programme of work to address the nature and climate emergency, which includes actions for achieving sustainable travel and sustainable food systems across Adur and Worthing.
Cllr Kevin Boram, Adur's Executive Member for Health & Wellbeing, said:
“This strategy is about placing the health and wellbeing of all our communities at the heart of everything we do and addressing the inequalities that have been exposed by the COVID pandemic. Our priority now is to build back, working in partnership with the community to develop an action plan that will support people to live their best lives.”
Cllr Sean McDonald, Worthing's Executive Member for Health & Wellbeing, said:
“As well as the health and wellbeing of our residents, this strategy considers the health of the environment too. We will continue to invest in innovative projects to improve our neighbourhoods, parks and open spaces and encourage residents to travel in active and sustainable ways, such as walking and cycling.”
Photo: Increasing access to green spaces for residents to enjoy the benefits of physical exercise is one of three priorities for improving community health & wellbeing
Article from Adur and Worthing Council.
