PLANNING


IN THE LAST ISSUE OF PHARMACY IN FOCUS, LOCAL COUNCILLOR AND PHARMACY BUSINESS MANAGER, WILLIE MCCAUGHEY, TALKED ABOUT THE VITAL ROLE OF COMMUNITY PLANNING IN HEALTHCARE. HERE, LIAM HANNAWAY, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF NEWRY MOURNE AND DOWN DISTRICT COUNCIL EXPLAINS WHY GIVING THE NHS MORE MONEY ISN’T THE SOLE ANSWER TO IMPROVING THE HEALTH OF OUR COMMUNITY.


HEALTHCARE: THE ROLE OF LOCAL


GOVERNMENT


The simple fact is that, regardless of many people’s arguments, making people well isn’t reliant on putting more money into primary and secondary care. We need to reduce the factors that make people ill in the first place and support them in their homes as they get better. The new Local Government legislation, which introduced Community Planning, sees increased emphasis on integrated working between public sector bodies including health. We need to concentrate on the key health outcomes we strive to achieve. However, this has very much got to be about how we make people’s lives fundamentally better. In terms of the elderly falling, for example, and having to spend time in hospital, that money would be better spent in the


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community by tackling the problem in a collective cross-sectoral manner. If the ‘third’ sector – ie, the community and voluntary sector – was given the funding that made it able to watch out for neighbours and help to prevent falls, or support elderly people after an accident, this would be more beneficial than putting the money into hospital beds. ‘Health’ is effectively not just about making people better per se. It’s about providing people with a warm, dry home; good food; a safe environment in which to live, a living income and a reasonable level of engagement with wider society. All of these elements would lead to a ‘better’ life, not one in which they have been treated for an illness on an ongoing basis. To that end, it is incumbent upon all sectors within local communities


– such as the Council, the health sector, the police and the voluntary sector – to work together to support these elements to improve everyone’s ‘health’ – both physical and mental. To take one example, instead of providing the youth of today with a swimming pool, why not support this activity for young people with a course on healthy living, good diet, the benefits of exercise, internet safety etc? All of these elements would not only provide them with a more-rounded understanding of what makes ‘good health and wellbeing’, but would tackle many other associated issues in a more joined-up way. As budgets within the public sector continue to decline, we in the public sector need to think more laterally about how we tackle the demands and needs of the public. Even in an emotive area such as health, pouring money directly in to health care is not the answer. Community Planning provides us with the statutory tool to ensure that all the public sectors recognise their role in working together to tackle issues we will have a role in. Health targets such as reduced waiting lists and admission to A&E, do not tell us we have a healthy society. It is when we all tackle outcomes which demonstrate a reduction in poor health that


we will make our community more healthy. This must link with the Government’s programme for Government Outcomes:


‘WE ENJOY LONG HEALTHY AND ACTIVE LIVES’


‘WE CARE FOR OTHERS AND WE HELP THOSE IN NEED’


‘WE GIVE OUR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE THE BEST START IN LIFE’


If we in Local Government, in our local community plans, all contribute to these outcomes then we can make a real difference to people’s lives. Every sector and public body has a role in addressing this and we must each set out what we see as our role. •


Liam Hannaway, Chief Executive of Newry Mourne and Down District Council


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