Observer column 22 July 2022

Without good health, everything else seems more of a struggle

Over the last few months I have talked to lots of residents and the issue raised most often all across Hastings has been the struggle to access GP services.

This is a complex issue, as we have had a reduction in GP numbers locally for some years, increased pressure for services from a population now living longer, and really poor underlying health for many of our residents. And, of course, the last two years has seen the pandemic and the introduction of far more online services and new systems for booking appointments which many residents struggle with.

We have had the worst health in the south of England for many years, and in many areas this has got even worse recently.

So I am delighted that working closely with the NHS and the Director of Public Health for East Sussex, we will launch two major new health programmes in Hastings this autumn.

All major organisations in the town have agreed to work together (as The Whole System Approach to Health) through the Local Strategic Partnership to improve health by redesigning how they provide education, employment and housing, for example, and listening to the local communities who are saying their health isn't being supported appropriately.

And we will partner with Bradford and the South Bank University in a national project (Universal Healthcare) aiming to deliver health services differently, so that all communities feel they have equal access to GPs, hospitals and other health services.

Chris Whitty wrote about the health problems in seaside towns last year and will be here to launch our radical rethinking of local services in September.

The Council has played a major part in making all this happen, including lobbying to ensure that £3.4m of NHS funding is allocated to this to try out new ways of working. We have also just created a lead councillor for Health and Culture, Cllr Andy Batsford, and he and I will be out and about to hear your views on health priorities over the next few months.

You can read more about this here or join us online when this is discussed at the next Cabinet meeting on Monday August 1st at 6pm.