Health and wellbeing

ABOUT

Health and wellbeing are essential parts of everyday life. It is integral to leading a happy and healthy lifestyle. As the first tier of local government and the closest port of call for residents’ local (parish and town) councils can play a huge role in ensuring our communities are more robust, healthier and thriving places to live.

Local councils, by providing information, services and access, can help improve the lives of millions of people. Health and wellbeing are personal and different for each individual. By highlighting the effect of hidden disabilities and the roles that local councils can play, NALC hopes to increase awareness and bring about positive change for local communities.

Duncan Selbie, chief executive of Public Health England, told NALC: “What is clear is that local councils are indispensable to the solutions around keeping people in good health.”

HEALTH AND WELLBEING CASE STUDIES

The Health and wellbeing case studies publication is for local councils and county associations to use as an example of work that can be carried out in their communities. These are all examples of best practise and demonstrate actions to benefit the health and wellbeing of residents.

This publication is divided into chapters; creating healthier communities, transport, Crohn's and colitis, dementia, loneliness, mental health, social prescribing and young people. It is designed to incorporate all areas of health and wellbeing and will be added in due course.

Read the Health and wellbeing case studies publication

HEALTH AND WELLBEING WEEK

Health and Wellbeing Week took place between 28 and 30 October 2020 as part of NALC's Rebuilding Communities online events series. The events covered themes such as the future of health post-COVID-19, collaboration, hidden disabilities, and supporting mental health. BHIB Councils Insurance sponsored the week of events, Blachere Illumination, CCLA, Came & Company Local Council Insurance, the Centre for Ageing Better, the Epilepsy Society, HAGS and Parish Online.

We have summarised and collated some useful resources from the events below:

Leaders talk: The future of health challenges post COVID-19

Leaders talk: Collaboration for health and wellbeing

Leaders talk: Local councils and hidden disabilities

Leaders talk: Supporting mental health in your community

TOPICS

Creating healthier communities

Creating healthier communities

Local councils play an enormous role in designing our communities which inherently impacts the lives of its residents. This can be as simple as having green spaces to walk and cycle in, community spaces to hold meetings in, and being social with neighbours. Therefore, the health of residents should be at the epicentre when considering planning and neighbourhood plans.

Additionally, local councils are increasingly responsible for delivering services and running assets within the community. The majority of which will directly affect the health and wellbeing of residents. These services and assets can be run with residents at heart by focusing on health and wellbeing. Examples of these can be seen below.

What can councils do?

Neighbourhood plans

Increasingly, more local councils are producing a neighbourhood plan. This allows councils to play an active role in constructing their communities to make sure that: there are places for residents to meet in their community; ensure that the community guarantees an active lifestyle for residents by encouraging walking and cycling and by supporting local services and public transport; by implementing open spaces to encourage residents to eat healthily by providing allotments, orchards and growing spaces and, providing homes and neighbourhoods that meet the needs of all people, including the elderly and disabled.

Allotments

Local councils have a long history of organising allotments in their communities. Allotments promote a healthy lifestyle by being outside, moving, being active, and having a healthy diet. NALC believes that local councils should encourage residents to use local allotments.

Gyms

Many local councils have introduced an outdoor gym to their local park. Outdoor gyms promote a healthy lifestyle for residents by keeping fit and being in green spaces. This may encourage more people to attend the park if the asset is underutilised.

Healthwatch

Healthwatch is the independent national champion for people who use health and social care services. They find out what matters to people and help ensure their views shape the support they need. Healthwatch England supports local Healthwatch to find out what people like about services and what could be improved, and they share these views with people in power to make change happen.

Find out more about the health issues in your area

Find your local Healthwatch

Leisure centres

The uses of leisure centres are a positive way to encourage a healthy lifestyle for residents. Many local councils run their leisure centres, providing residents with several sports courts. This allows citizens to socialise as well as enjoy sports together. Leisure centres also bring people of all ages and encourage a community spirit.

Parks

A lot of councils have control over parks or green spaces in their communities. This encourages residents to walk and cycle in green a space which is essential for a healthy lifestyle. NALC encourages all local councils to publicise their green spaces and keep them clean and tidy.

Planting trees

The health and lifestyle benefits of having access to trees and green spaces are well written about (see NHS Forest and The Woodland Trust for more information). Trees are known for their calming benefits and ability to improve air quality. If you or your council are passionate about trees and green spaces, please see NALC’s links with The Woodland Trust through The Tree Charter.

Skate parks

Owning and running a local skate park is a great initiative to encourage younger generations to be outside partaking in social and healthy activities and is low in cost to the council. There are numerous examples of local councils setting up their skate parks, and it is an excellent initiative for the health and wellbeing of our communities.

Transport

In rural communities, transport is essential to link residents to the town or city centre. It decreases the chance of isolation and loneliness among residents and provides a safe and easy way for people to meet each other. Increasingly, more local councils are funding their community buses and transport to ensure that their residents have access to shops, hospitals, green spaces and a reliable way to meet friends and family.

Resources

Crohn’s and Colitis

Dementia

Dementia

Dementia-Friendly Communities guide

The document, endorsed by the prime minister, Boris Johnson MP, aims to help local councils support people living with dementia in their communities. It contains case studies, recommendations, resources and statistics, and a message from Gary Streeter MP, who has supported turning South West Devon into a dementia-friendly constituency.

Between January and May 2020, NALC surveyed England's 10,000 local councils to find out what steps they have taken to support people living with dementia in their communities. This research provided the foundations for the publication.

The Dementia-Friendly Communities guide has been written in collaboration with Ian Sherriff BEM, academic partnership lead for Dementia at the University of Plymouth and Cllr Liz Hitchins, chairman of Brixton Parish Council and chairman of Dementia-Friendly Parishes around the Yealm.

Read the Dementia-Friendly Communities publication

Dementia describes symptoms that may include memory loss and difficulties with thinking, problem-solving or language. Dementia is caused when the brain is damaged by diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease or a series of strokes. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia, but not the only one.

The specific symptoms that someone with dementia experiences will depend on the damaged parts of the brain and disease-causing dementia. According to Alzheimer’s society, more than 42,000 people in the UK are under 65 living with dementia. While in total, there are roughly 850,000 people in the UK with dementia (Source: The Alzheimer’s Society).

As a terminal illness, Dementia cannot usually be treated with medicines. It is, therefore, typically down to the support they receive from loved ones and caregivers to ensure a good quality of life.

NALC believes local councils can play a prominent role in supporting those in their communities with dementia by providing quality social care through social interaction and support groups. Councils can support people with dementia by becoming ‘Dementia friends’ and a Dementia-friendly community.

What can councils do?

What are Dementia-friendly communities?

“A city, town or village where people with dementia are understood, respected and supported, and confident they can contribute to community life. In a dementia-friendly community, people will be aware of and understand dementia. People with dementia will feel included and involved and have choice and control over their day-to-day lives”.

Become a dementia-friendly community

Becoming dementia-friendly

Shaping communities around the views of people with dementia and their carers
Challenging stigma and building awareness
Ensuring that activities include people with dementia
Empowering people with dementia and recognising their contribution
Ensuring early diagnosis, personalised and integrated care is the norm
Befrienders helping people with dementia engage in community life
Maintaining independence by delivering community-based solutions
Appropriate transport
Easy to navigate physical environments
Businesses and services that respond to customers with dementia

Make your organisation dementia-friendly by following these steps.

Five simple steps to becoming dementia-friendly

Sign up to become a dementia-friendly community on the Alzheimer’s website
Set up training for councillors and residents to signpost symptoms of Dementia
Ensure that your council buildings are checked to be suitable for people with Dementia
Set up community groups for your community which is easily accessible for people living with dementia, such as walking, arts and crafts or singing
Work with neighbouring communities to help promote becoming a dementia-friendly area

Resources

NALC and the Alzheimer’s society strategic document
For information about local branches of the Alzheimer’s Society — please email
Become a dementia-friendly community
Alzheimer’s Society
Age UK
NHS
Dementia Friendly Parishes around the Yealm
Kent Association of Local Councils
Regional Alzheimer’s Society Officers
Local authorities' guidance for local councils
How to become a dementia-friendly community
Dementia Friendly Village Halls Guide and checklist

Epilepsy

Healthwatch

Loneliness

Loneliness

Everyone in our communities, from the youngest to the oldest, needs connections that matter. Being lonely can affect anyone at any time in their life. People can also be lonely but not necessarily live in isolation.

In October 2018, the Government launched the first-ever loneliness strategy. Loneliness is now incorporated within various ministerial portfolios, including the Ministry for Housing, Community and Local Government and Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

Loneliness can have an impact on mental and physical health and wellbeing, as well as on the way that people engage and interact with broader services and the local community. We must lay the foundations for change towards shaping a better-connected society.

At a local level, parish and town councils are already contributing to tackling loneliness. NALC wants to build on this work by encouraging partnerships between local government and the health sector to make a real difference in ending loneliness.

What can councils do?

Local councils are at the forefront of community life, where most needs are visible. Still, loneliness is not so easy to identify. Yet, it can have a profound effect on health and social care services and contribute to a disconnected community – this can add pressure on services which already have limited capacity and resources – having a much broader detrimental impact on a local community and access to crucial services.

Local councils can make a difference by connecting the local community and encouraging residents to look out for their neighbours. Playing a vital role in identifying people who are lonely and helping to raise awareness and signpost to support.

Building on a successful track record of joint work with the Local Government Association, NALC has jointly published, with vital funding from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, a guide to help local and principal councils tackle loneliness.

The guide presents a real opportunity for local and principal councils to make a difference in a wide range of practical ways with potential outputs including:

Finding ways to reach and understand the needs of those experiencing loneliness
Providing services that directly improve the number and quality of relationships that people have
Providing support such as transport and technology to help sustain connections
Creating suitable structures and conditions locally to support those affected by, or at risk of, loneliness

The guide is easy to read and includes a range of resources, in-practice examples, case studies, action planning checklists, and top tips.

Resources

Reaching out
Making Communities Healthier
Government Loneliness Strategy
One Community Guide
LGA Health and Wellbeing in Rural Areas
Health Education England Population Wellbeing Portal
Age UK and Jo Cox Loneliness Commission
Campaign to End Loneliness
Red Cross
Let's Talk Loneliness Campaign
Youth Lets Talk Loneliness
Making Every Contact Count
50 loneliness case studies
Laying the Foundations for Change

Mental health

Violence against women and girls

Violence against women and girls

Violence against women and girls is defined in the 1993 United Nations declaration as: "Any act of gender-based violence that results in or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life. Violence against women and girls can take many forms: sexual assault; domestic abuse; domestic homicide; harassment; and rape.

Although the statistics show that men are the perpetrators of violence against women and girls, women can be perpetrators, and men can be victims. The resources and advice include support for men and women alike.

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) reported that in the year ending March 2020, 1.6 million women in England and Wales aged between 16 and 74 experienced domestic abuse. Equivalent to 7% of the female population. The ONS also found that in the year ending June 2021, 60% of police-recorded crimes described as "rape of a female aged 16 years and over" were closed due to "evidential difficulties".

What is NALC doing?

NALC supported White Ribbon Day, a campaign to end violence against women and girls, by becoming a White Ribbon Accredited organisation. A commitment to end male violence by challenging harmful behaviours, attitudes, and systems is ongoing.
NALC released a video featuring men from the sector showing their support for ending violence against women and girls.
NALC published a blog by Cllr Kay Wesley, a White Ribbon Champion for Congleton Town Council, on their journey to becoming accredited.
NALC updated its health and wellbeing webpage with a new section on violence against women and girls.
NALC chair, Cllr Keith Stevens, shared his support for White Ribbon Day.

NALC will provide more information on our progress to becoming accredited as and when it's available.

What can councils do?

Local (parish and town) councils have two primary roles: to support victims who have experienced violence and to prevent violence before it happens. With the right actions and resources, we can help make women and girls feel supported to speak out against male violence and to feel safer in their everyday lives.

Among victims of gender-based violence — the ONS finds mental or emotional problems, suicidal thoughts, and difficulty in other relationships are the main contributors. Listening to and believing survivors is vital in ending violence against women and girls. Statistics show that violence is rising, but conviction rates are declining. Likewise, being aware of the services and support available for those in need. Support for victims may be in counselling, shelter, or a conversation with them.

Find your local domestic abuse service

You can also find Safe Spaces near you; these are consultation rooms in pharmacies, shops, and banks across the UK for victims of domestic abuse to reach out to friends and family and contact specialist support services.

Preventing violence before it happens is another way local councils can help. Working with men and boys to challenge harmful behaviours, attitudes, and systems that lead to violence. The White Ribbon UK charity takes this preventative approach to male violence. Mobilising men and boys as allies to call out peers and their behaviour surrounding male violence is vital in this process.

Learn more about White Ribbon UK and how to get involved

Some specific measures councils can take:

Educate the community to speak up against sexist language, behaviour, or violence, where possible and safe.
Consider becoming a White Ribbon Accredited or Supporter organisation.
Find, support, or donate to your local domestic abuse service.
Make your community aware of the services and support they can access if needed.
List relevant support, information and helplines on noticeboards.

Resources

National Domestic Abuse Helpline (0908 2000 247 – open 24 hours a day)
Women's Aid
White Ribbon UK
End Violence Against Women
The Men's Advice Line (0808 801 0327)
National LGBT+ Domestic Abuse Helpline (0800 999 5428)
Respond to Abuse Advice Line (020 3879 3695)
Samaritans (116 123)
Guide on how to support survivors of gender-based violence
Find a Safe Space
Advice on how to support a friend/loved one whom you know is being abused
Government guidance on domestic abuse: how to get help