Agenda item

Report attached to be presented by Matthew Liddle

The Board received a presentation which provided feedback on a Health and Lifestyle Survey undertaken by the Council in 2016.  The Council used its online Viewpoint Panel to undertake the survey.  The survey was undertaken between 16 March and 30 April 2016 and 1 November – 18 December 2016.  The reason behind undertaking the survey is that good health is important for happiness and a general feeling of well-being.  A healthy population is in a better position to enjoy life, live longer, to be more productive and to contribute towards economic growth.  The Council is responsible for providing public health services and this survey was designed to explore attitudes to making healthy lifestyle choices, future areas of health promotion and to identify inequalities in health.

In total over the two phases of the survey 881 people responded to the survey.

73% of respondents said they were in good or very good health with a further 20% who said their health was fair.  7% said they were in poor or very poor health.    Although 73% said they were in good health, only 64% thought they were fit.  Respondents who smoke do not get the recommended level of exercise or who have excess weight are significantly less likely to feel fit than on average.  The perception of fitness differs by gender with 41% of women saying they feel unfit, compare with 31% of men.  It also appears, though not definitive that men may feel less fit as they grow older whereas women are the opposite and actually feel fitter they older they get.

Only 9% of respondents said they smoke regularly or occasionally.  This is very low when compare with national smoking prevalence surveys and suggests that the Viewpoint Panel is biased toward non-smoking.  33% said they used to smoke but do not smoke at all now.  Young people are more likely to smoke than older ones, with 12% of those aged under 35 currently smoking, compared to 3% of those aged 65 and over.  There is also a significant ‘social gradient’ for smokers, with a gap of 11 percentage points between those living in the most and least deprived areas.

90% of respondents drink alcohol, but younger people under the age of 35 are significantly less likely to drink weekly or more often at just 32%, compared with 62% of those between the ages of 35 and 64 and 67% of those aged 65 or over.  Men are significantly more likely to drink weekly or more often than women, and this is particularly the case for those aged 65+ with 82% of older men drinking that regularly compare with 47% of older women.  There is a social gradient evident in those who drink weekly or more often with those in the 20% most deprived areas significantly less likely to do so (39%) than those in the 40% least deprived areas (70%).

Fruit and vegetables are a vital source of vitamins and minerals and should make up just over a third of the food we eat each day.  Just under half (48%) of respondents are eating 5 a day.  Indicatively, women aged 65 or over.  73% of older women have 5 a day which is significantly higher than any other aged and gender group.  In comparison, only 44% of older men have 5 a day,.

4 questions were asked about overall personal wellbeing.  The questions asked were about satisfaction with life, happiness, anxiety and feelings of doing things that are worthwhile.

The headline results from these indicators are shown as follows:

The final results have been reported to the Director of Public Health and following the information be presented to this Board with the results will be used as evidence in Gateshead’s Joint Strategic Needs Assessment which identifies key strategic priorities to improve the health and wellbeing of the population.

It was felt that the information provided was very useful, however, it was noted that by their nature these types of surveys attract a particular section of the population.  It was agreed that there needs to be some caution with the information provided, however, it was felt that overall it was a good indicator.

The Citizens Advice Bureau suggested it may be possible to run a version of this survey with their clients.  There was also a discussion about using the survey on other subsets of the population, e.g. Ward Based.

RESOLVED - That the information in the presentation be noted.