Angus Community Planning
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Health inequalities - Angus public asked to share views
People living in Angus are being asked by NHS Tayside to share their views on what actions are needed to make sure future generations can look forward to better lives in stronger communities.
A new strategy called 'Communities in Control' has been developed and addresses how NHS Tayside can better work with its partners to help tackle more of the problems being seen by staff every day.
Having good health is something that is really important to most people, no matter whether they are young or old or regardless of where they happen to live.
Unfortunately, not all of us enjoy the best of health and there are very many reasons for this. Some of us are ill with a long-term condition, some people may have a disease or infection and others may suffer from ill health after an accident. However, what about suffering from poorer health just because of where you live?
Around Tayside, it is clear that in those areas where there is higher deprivation, people have a much higher chance of poorer health and this is not right or fair.
Those differences in overall health that we see, especially between those who are better off and those who are worst off, are called 'Health Inequalities'. These Health Inequalities caused by poverty can have an overwhelming effect on people's lives causing constant stress, long-term physical ill health, poor mental health and even an earlier death for some people living in our poorest communities.
Director of Public Health Dr Drew Walker explained that this is an issue that NHS Tayside is giving a lot of thought and attention to, having already carried out extensive research in relation to the problem and asking people for their ideas in drawing up the strategy.
"We know that we need to help close this 'inequalities gap' and the best way to do this is to work with local councils, volunteering groups, charities and, most important of all, by working with local people in local communities," Dr Walker said.
"We've pulled together all the ideas from the last few months of work and put them into a document called 'Communities in Control'. This gives reasons why we have to work much harder to remove this unfairness and ideas on how we find new and quite different ways to make a difference to the health of future generations.
"At the heart of all the work we have done so far is our belief that local people are going to be best at tackling many problems themselves. What's more, we know that by giving people support, training and by building their confidence to do things themselves they will look after each other better and make their own communities stronger."
NHS Tayside would really like to hear people's views on what the organisation and its partners can do for communities. Visit the NHS Tayside Public Health website to read the 'Communities in Control' document and take the short online survey. There is also an information leaflet available to download.
Dr Walker adds, "Please help us to build stronger, fairer and healthier communities by answering the questionnaire and letting us know the actions you think are needed so we can ensure future generations can look forward to a better life in a stronger community."