To review Herefordshire’s Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) and neighbourhood health profiles.

The committee considered a report on Herefordshire’s Joint Strategic Needs Assessment and Neighbourhood Profiles.

The principal points of the subsequent discussion are summarised below:

1. The Director of Public Health introduced the item and explained that the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) is a statutory, ongoing assessment of the health, care and wellbeing needs of Herefordshire’s population. It was noted that, alongside the countywide summary published on a three-year cycle, the JSNA included themed needs assessments, dashboards and other products to inform strategic planning, commissioning, monitoring and evaluation.

2. The committee heard that the JSNA considers the wider determinants of health and wellbeing, including housing, employment, transport, social connections and the local environment, rather than health services alone. It was noted that health services accounted for only part of the factors influencing health outcomes.

3. The Lead Public Health Intelligence Analyst reported that the neighbourhood profiles had been developed to provide an area-based understanding of need, complementing the countywide and topic-based JSNA products. The profiles are intended to support the national neighbourhood health agenda, with Herefordshire identified as one of the first-wave neighbourhood health sites.

4. The committee was advised that the profiles were designed to be accessible to a wide range of users, including primary care networks, commissioners, council and partnership services, voluntary-sector organisations and other stakeholders. Their purpose is to identify opportunities for prevention and reducing inequalities.

5. It was explained that four neighbourhood areas had been defined using existing localities and primary care network footprints: Hereford City, East, South and West, and North and West. The two Hereford City primary care networks had been combined because their registered populations overlapped, while the profiles would also enable analysis of differences within each wider neighbourhood area.

6. The committee heard that the profiles had been developed as narrative and graphic products, interpreting and triangulating available evidence rather than presenting a comprehensive list of data points. A full North and West profile and draft summary profiles for all four areas had been included in the agenda papers, with members invited to comment on whether the profiles accurately reflected the story of each area.

7. In relation to Hereford City, it was noted that the area has the highest population density and contains both some of the most and least deprived areas in the county. Significant inequalities exist within the city, including a difference of around five years in male life expectancy between some areas, alongside higher smoking rates and avoidable mortality than elsewhere in Herefordshire.

8. The East neighbourhood was reported to have generally positive outcomes, including higher life expectancy, healthier lifestyles and strong communities. However, members heard that area-wide outcomes could mask local need, with Bromyard Central and Ledbury Central identified as areas experiencing deprivation and higher emergency hospital admissions.

9. It was noted that South and West is geographically diverse, encompassing better-connected locations such as Ross-on-Wye as well as remote rural areas including the Golden Valley and the Black Mountains. While health outcomes were generally positive, the profile identified barriers to physical and digital access to services,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28