Voluntary Action Camden

Until March 31 2011 the Camden Health Inequalities Forum was run as a partnership between the voluntary and community sector, NHS Camden and London Borough of Camden.  It aimed to bring organisations together to contribute to tackling health inequalities and reducing the gap in morbidity (disease) and mortality for Camden residents.  Sadly owing to the end of funding arrangements with NHS Camden, the forum closed at the end of March 2011.

NHS Camden decided earlier this year not to renew the contract for Camden Health Inequalities Forum and its work.  Whilst the Forum’s members recognised the climate in which cuts to services are being made; they also felt strongly that it is important to maintain vital services which have been identified as mechanisms to delivery key policies and services in the future.  As a result of the decision not to renew the contract, the following areas of work are no longer funded:

• Support of voluntary/ community sector representatives on the Health & Wellbeing Board.
• Supporting the development of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment and voluntary /community sector involvement.
• Representing the voluntary and community sector on the shadow GP commissioning Board.
• Working with public health practitioners to engage the voluntary and community sector.
• Facilitating Camden Health Inequalities Forum.

VAC and the Forum are undertaking a number of initiatives to continue with some, if not all, of the above activities.

Health Inequalities Activities in 2010-11

VAC hosted a Health Inequalities event on Friday 14^th October 2011. The event was attended by 29 delegates. Sean Baine, Speaker from the Equality Trust, highlighted the importance of reducing inequality. Jacqui Tongue, Practice Manager at Abbey Medical Centre and member on the Camden Clinical Commissioning Consortia Board, gave an overview of the Camden Commissioning Intention Strategy. If you need more information on the Camden Clinical Commissioning Consortia Board and the strategy document, please contact Jacqui Tongue on the contact details below:

Jacqui Tonge

Practice Manager

Abbey Medical Centre

85 abbey Road

London

NW8 0AG

Direct dial 0207 604 2440

Email:Jacqui.tongue@nhs.net

Camden Clinical Commissioning Group

Camden’s Commissioning Intentions Strategy 2012-13

Health Inequalities Event Summary Report Oct 2011

Presentation – health inequalities Camden

Camden Health Inequalities Networking and Training Event Report, 14th March 2011

An event was held recently in order to respond to the Department of Health Public Health White Paper: Healthy Lives, Healthy People. It was an opportunity to find out how the different partners in Camden intend to deliver on the white paper in relation to GP commissioning and the changes to Public Health.  Furthermore it was an opportunity for the voluntary and community sector to consider how it would like to be involved in the continuing developments.  You can view the full report here.

News from Strategic Meetings in Camden

The Health Inequalities Forum was formerly represented on a number of decision-making bodies in Camden.  Please click here to download the last forum update from these meetings.

Improving health and well-being together – Camden’s joint strategic needs assessment (JSNA)

The JSNA is an ongoing process by which NHS Trusts, local authorities and other public sector partners jointly describe the current and future health and wellbeing needs of the local population and identify priorities for action. The Health Inequalities Forum was involved in supporting the voluntary and community sector to shape the JSNA for Camden.

Joint Strategic Needs Assessment Template is a tool for bringing together the key elements of a needs assessment. Although the JSNA identifies the health and wellbeing needs and inequalities of the local population as a whole, the template can be used for specific conditions and for looking at the broad range of factors that can influence health and well-being. The JSNA 2010 and the template can be downloaded from: http://camden.gov.uk/ccm/content/social-care-and-health/health-in-camden/joint-strategic-needs-analysis.en]

To complement the JSNA NHS Camden: Public Health and Camden Council are developing a Data Observatory.  The Observatory will include data on mortality; prevalence, lifestyle, infectious diseases etc. Each area will have a summary of what is happening in Camden.  The Data Observatory will link to other websites such as the London Health Observatory.  This will be a public site to be accessed by all.

Annual Public Health Report

The Director of Public Health’s annual report is an independent assessment of the health of the population over a period of time, which is intended to guide and inform commissioners and providers of services that impact upon public health.  To download a copy visit: http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nhscamden/healthreport0910

Forum newsletters

Click on the links below to download any of our forum e-bulletins.

  December 2010      October 2010      September 2010       August 2010       June 2010      May 2010

We have found the following links and resources useful to keep up-to-date with the latest health policy news:

• King’s Fund (free weekly alerts around health policy, management, the NHS etc.): http://www.kingsfundlibrary.co.uk/awareness/
•  NHS Evidence Health in Later Life Specialist Library (sign up for their monthly newsletter) http://www.library.nhs.uk/publichealth/
•  NHS Evidence National Library for Public Health (sign up for their monthly newsletter) http://www.library.nhs.uk/publichealth/
•  NHS Camden Library & Health Promotion Resources Service library@camdenpct.nhs.uk  020 3317 3739

Contact:

If you want to discuss any development of services on Health Inequalities, please contact Somanah Achadoo
T: 020 7284 6556  (Typetalk:  18001-020 7284 6556)
E: Sachadoo@vac.org.uk