Devon Association of Governors - Run by Devon Governors for Devon Governors
Review of health and social care in Devon
A Study of the health needs of the population of Devon
From David Tall
Governors may be interested to know that "Devon Primary Care Trust and Devon County Council recently undertook a Joint Strategic Review of health and social care in Devon. Together, we studied the health needs of the population and the way in which health and social care services are used. We also looked at best practice locally and nationally and, most importantly, we listened to people across Devon - people who use services, carers, the voluntary sector and many others. We have built this into a strategic framework for Devon that sets out the key health and social care priorities for the next 5 years. This framework ‘the way ahead’ is available online – www.devon.gov.uk/the_way_ahead_v3.pdf
One of the exciting outcomes of this work has been an increased understanding of the population, health and social care needs of the communities within Devon, partly through the sharing of information between organisations.
The health and social care profiles, based on the Devon Town and rural hinterland areas, have been produced in partnership and offer an overview of the use of health and social care services alongside other key demographic and lifestyle factors that may help understand the important areas affecting health and well-being in each community. We hope these profiles will be used widely in local planning groups as well as county-wide partnership groups. Each of the Devon Town profiles appear individually online - www.devon.gov.uk/JSNAprofiles
To help you understand the profiles, a glossary has been created and attached for your reference that gives further detail on some of the terminology used as well as some important information on interpreting the profiles. It is strongly encouraged that the glossary is read, prior to reading the profiles.
All feedback and any questions on the information found within the profiles are gratefully received; this may be from your perspective or via specific health and social care planning groups. We will ensure that your comments are taken on-board to continue to improve the intelligence we have on our communities. We have attached a template which you can complete electronically or by paper and send to the Devon Strategic Review Programme office address listed above.
We think that by using the intelligence on our communities to inform engagement with a wide range of people, including health and social care professionals and service users, we will be better placed to plan and improve health and social care services on an on-going basis.
The various websites contained some fascinating information, which may help influence the strategic planning of some Governing Bodies.
