Annual Report of the Director of Public Health 2010

Director of Public Health, Dr Andrew Furber, reports on our on-going work to understand the health and wellbeing needs of local people.

Local residents are living longer, however health inequalities within the district remain a challenge. 20% of our population living in our most affluent areas have a life expectancy of eight and a half years longer than the 20% living in our most deprived neighbourhoods. Dr Furber presents data to account for this difference in lifestyle factors.

Dr Furber also comments on swine flu and the importance of immunisation, which is one of the safest and most effective public health measures.

He also reports on the Health Inequalities Task and Finish Group commissioned by Wakefield Together. The group has used an approach called 'Outcomes Based Accountability', which has helped explain our objectives and helped us to think about how we track our performance.

Finally, Dr Furber proposes a vision for the future. He talks about co-production as an effective way of allowing change in communities. Co-production gives a real opportunity to see local people as co-producers of better health and wellbeing.