Improving health and wellbeing is at the heart of the Partnership. We do this by building on the work of local Health and Wellbeing Boards on things which are key to healthy lives - in doing so we will help people to have the best start in life, to be healthy into adulthood, to have more control over their health care and to age well. We work together to help create the conditions for people to be healthy and to better understand the causes of ill health and wellbeing.
The factors that keep people healthy are much wider than the impact health and care services have alone. Working with communities allows us to influence the impact which wider factors such as housing, employment, education, social networks and the environment have on people’s health.
We will work with our people, our communities and our organisations to seize new opportunities for improving health.
Conditions for healthy lives
Looking at the health and wellbeing of the 2.7million people who live in West Yorkshire and Harrogate gives us a unique opportunity to consider what partners together can do to contribute to people leading healthy lives. Decisions that affect people’s health are not taken solely by health and care organisations, but by a much wider set of partners. For example decisions about transport, housing, parks and countryside, community facilities, the economy, public safety or air quality. These all have a causal link to the health of people. It is our ambition to work with all key organisations, sectors and communities.
Good work and fair opportunities There are links between the economic prosperity of our area and the wellbeing of the people who live here, just as there is a causal interdependence between an individual’s economic circumstances and their lifetime health. Some of our area’s key economic assets are in the health and care sector.
However, we have a higher rate of people not in work, including people with learning and physical disabilities, who would like to be. For those in work, 25% of the jobs in our region pay below the living wage. One in three people in our workforce has a chronic health condition that can sometimes affect their ability to work, or reduce their ability to work full time or for as many years as they would like before retirement.
Working with our large organisations can help us understand the role they play as a big employer in promoting good health and contributing towards the local economy. The main causes of long term sickness, musculoskeletal problems and mental ill health, are also the main factors that reduce healthy life expectancy.