People are being encouraged to have their say about the health and wellbeing priorities for Wolverhampton.

The city's Health and Wellbeing Together Board is working to improve the health and wellbeing of residents, reduce health inequalities in the city and support the development of better and more joined up health and social care services.

One of the ways it does this is through its Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy, which identifies key priorities for the city.

The existing strategy is currently being updated, and residents are encouraged to have their say to ensure that it reflects what is important to them by completing a short, 5 minute survey. To take part, please visit Type=links;Linkid=10914;Title=Health and Wellbeing Together survey;Target=_blank;.

Councillor Roger Lawrence, Leader of the City of Wolverhampton Council and Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Together Board, said: "Health and wellbeing is about more than health and care services. The environments we live in, our lifestyles, the opportunities we have throughout our whole lives, education, family, good jobs and community - all these have an impact on our health.

"Often health and wellbeing issues are complex, multifaceted and require partners to work together around the needs of people. There are clear areas of work that can be done better in partnership, across the whole system, and these are the things that we are focusing on.

"We want to know what makes people feel good about life in Wolverhampton, and what things would help them live more healthily and happily. We also want them to help identify the priority areas which partners should be targeting their efforts on."

Dr Helen Hibbs, Chief Officer, Wolverhampton Clinical Commissioning Group, and Vice Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Together Board, added: "We want to support independence and empower everyone to look after their own health and wellbeing by using the assets available in communities.

"We aim to create environments and opportunities for people to thrive and stay well, making Wolverhampton a city where people want to live and work. And when health and care services are required, we will ensure they are built around the people who need them - focussed on improving their experiences and their outcomes.

"It's really important that people take a few moments to have their say by completing this short survey so that we can ensure that we have got our priorities correct."

The closing date for comments is Sunday 28 October, 2018. The results of the consultation will then be published at the Health and Wellbeing Together Board meeting in January along with the updated Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

As well as helping to shape the strategy, people who complete the survey will also have the opportunity to enter a prize draw, with a £50 high street shopping voucher up for grabs.

The Health and Wellbeing Together Board comprises representatives from the City of Wolverhampton Council, Wolverhampton Clinical Commissioning Group, the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, the Black Country Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, NHS England, West Midlands Police, West Midlands Fire Service, the University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton Safeguarding Boards, Healthwatch Wolverhampton and the Third Sector Partnership. For more information, please visit Type=links;Linkid=10915;Title=Health and Wellbeing Together Board;Target=_blank;.

  • released: Wednesday 5 September, 2018