In her first Annual Report as North Yorkshire’s director of public health Louise Wallace describes it as a year like no other - “the biggest public health challenge in living memory.”
She pays tribute to the people who live and work in the county and her 2021 annual report, ‘Making Sense of Covid-19’, is an account of how they have faced and responded to the pandemic.
The report also looks at the general health of the county. Overall, health in North Yorkshire is good, with most indicators above the England average.
However, there is substantial inequality in life expectancy in North Yorkshire. Women and men live 4.8 and 6.9 years longer respectively in the least deprived areas compared with those in the most deprived areas.
Despite the challenges of Covid, Public Health has maintained crucial services such as the service to help people stop smoking; drug and alcohol services; adult weight management; helping people keep physically active and Living Well - a highly successful scheme that reconnects people to social and community networks to promote independence after a bout of physical or mental ill-health or following a bereavement.
The annual report has also set priorities for the year ahead:
Continue to reduce health inequalities
Continue with measures to protect the health of the whole population
Improve mental health and wellbeing across the whole population
Ensure babies, children and young people get the best start in life
Continue to work with NHS partners to maximise joint effectiveness and impact on health outcomes
Ensure the working age population have opportunities to live well
Ensure the older age population can age well
Develop a centre for public health excellence to promote research, training and behavioural science.
