Health issues discussed at the heart of Rossendale's community
Action to ensure Lancashire residents have healthier hearts has been agreed at a community meeting in Rossendale.
Lancashire Health and Wellbeing Board, which includes representatives from Lancashire County Council, the NHS and district councils, met at Stubbylee Community Greenhouses, Bacup.
Board members agreed steps the council and its partners will take to improve people's wellbeing.
The meeting saw health leaders sign-up to the refreshed Healthy Weight Declaration. Re-joining this national scheme, run by Food Active, reaffirms the board's commitment to encouraging people to eat well, live an active lifestyle and maintain a healthy weight.
Other actions agreed include:
- introducing a new Lancashire NHS Health Checks Programme, which will focus on making it easier to get health checks in the community
- commissioning a new service to identify people with blood pressure issues and supporting the NHS to implement a home blood pressure monitoring service
- supporting NHS Colleagues with cholesterol management work
- introducing a nicotine addiction service for hospital in-patients
The board also agreed to develop a new Lancashire Healthier Heart Strategy.
County Councillor Michael Green, chairman of Lancashire Health and Wellbeing Board, said: "This is the first of our new style of meetings, where we consider crucial health issues right at the heart of local communities.
"It's about getting out and about and taking decisions that affect our communities, in our communities.
"Ensuring we help people to improve their cardiovascular health is key and we agreed action including bringing in a new health checks programme, supporting the NHS with cholesterol management work and offering a nicotine addiction service to hospital patients."
Reducing smoking rates by 5% by 2030, detecting 80% of all people who have hypertension by 2029 and reducing childhood obesity by 50% by 2030 were some of the targets discussed, which could form part of the council's Healthier Heart Strategy.
County Councillor Green added: "Signing up to the Healthy Weight Declaration was crucial as tackling obesity will form an important part of our Healthier Heart Strategy. Our next steps will be to get together to decide what we include in this strategy in the next few months."
This new action builds on measures Lancashire County Council has already put in place, including commissioning the NHS Quit Squad stop smoking service, the Walking and Cycling Strategy and Active Travel Plan.
For more information, see agenda item 5 at our Lancashire Health and Wellbeing Board web page.