Health and Wellbeing. The real story.

All of the current changes taking place in Greater Manchester and beyond are based on a desire to see a radical upgrade in the way that health services are planned and delivered. This includes having a different relationship with people and communities, a greater focus on prevention and early intervention and more holistic and person centred approaches including self-care, self-management and peer support.

A recent report from the Health Foundation What makes us healthy highlights that as little as 10% of our health and wellbeing is linked to traditional healthcare services. Our lifestyles, the communities around us and the choices we make affect the other 90%.

It is clear that the answers to improving population health don’t lie within the NHS alone. We need to have different conversations around what makes people healthy and what keeps people well within the wider community and across sectors. This will include, but isn’t exclusive to transport, housing, work and skills, education, the environment, and social connections.

Some thoughts around this were explored in Claire Tomkinson’s recent blog: Who decides what health means?

This will require organisations working together to develop person-centred, community based support for the region, which support the emotional, social and physical (as well as medical) needs of the individual.