Minutes:
The Director of Public Health submitted a report (previously circulated) outlining the key messages in the Local Authority Health Profile for Darlington in 2019 which provided a snap shot of child and adult health in Darlington and enabled benchmarking against region and the rest of England.
Particular reference was made to the life expectancy for men and women in Darlington which remained significantly lower than the England average, with a variation of 12.4 years for men and 9.7 years for women between the most and least deprived areas of Darlington.
Reference was also made to smoking at the time of delivery which was statistically worse than the England average; that more than two out of ten Year 6 children were classified as obese; nearly four out of ten adults were estimated to be physically inactive; one in three adults were classified as overweight or obese; and that physical activity and obesity were associated with a range of preventable health conditions including diabetes, cancer, heart disease and stroke.
Details were provided on the work being undertaken to address the key emerging issues from the Health Profile. A Childhood Healthy Weight Plan had been developed as part of a multi-agency approach to tackle obesity; CDDFT which has ‘smoke free’ status have improved signage, moved smoking bins and offer support to patients and family members that smoke.
Following a question regarding education of parents in respect of food choices, Members were advised that the Childhood Healthy Weight Plan included work with parents and food outlets to improve the availability of healthy choices; and Members were advised of Hummersknott Academy Trust who had implemented a healthy food policy across the whole school including a points based system for earning treats, which was compulsory for children and all adults in the school including teachers.
Discussion ensued in respect of smoking in young people; the annual Healthy Lifestyle Survey identified that a small decreasing minority of young people still smoked; and multi-agency work was ongoing with 0-19 services, police and trading standards to address sale of illicit tobacco.
Concerns were raised in respect of an increasing number of vaping related deaths in the USA; advice from Public Health England confirmed that vaping was a safer alternative to smoking for those that already smoking and was a useful aid to stop smoking; that the sale of vaping liquids in the USA was not as closely regulated as the UK; and the deaths in the USA were as a result of people home brewing vaping liquids often involving cannabis.
RESOLVED – That the Local Authority Health Profile and actions to address the key issues, be noted.