Vision to keep county healthy

North Yorkshire County Council’s Council Plan for 2018 to 2022 sets out the authority’s ambitions for the coming years and is closely linked to its budget - both of which will be discussed by the full council on February 21.

The draft Council Plan, which is due to be approved by members of the Executive Board today, includes “calls to action” to schools, families, businesses, agencies and voluntary groups to “be even more ambitious” in tackling the challenges that could limit children’s life chances; and says despite the “very difficult decisions” it faces under increasing demand for services, it is working to ensure the impact on vulnerable people is minimised.

The ageing population and subsequent increased demand on the care and support the council must provide means it is focussed on “prevention”, the report says, and working with individuals and families to keep them independent, healthy, safe and “less reliant on our services in the future”.

Among the priorities for the next four years are expanding the “scale and scope” of the council’s Extra Care programme to help older people stay in their own homes by providing wraparound social care and ensuring social care teams have the right mix of skills within their work forces.

Last week a report by research group Rural England said the elderly and vulnerable in North Yorkshire faced a “terrifying” crisis due to poor access to social care - compounded by retention and recruitment of care staff.

The Council Plan sets out recent progress it has made to expand Extra Care schemes across the region, offering increased support for people to remain independent, and strengthened prevention services that help people live healthier lives.

Dr Lincoln Sargeant, Director of Public Health for North Yorkshire said the plan was important to its work tackling health inequalities.

“No single organisation can address the issues we have,” he said. “But setting out the authority’s vision will help our partners in the NHS, private and voluntary sectors to align.”

The Executive Board has also been asked to recommend the council stops creating a separate Community Plan in addition to its Council Plan. The previous Community Plan expired in 2017 and covered much of the same issues - including reducing health inequalities. The report said “almost all” two tier local authorities had already stopped producing separate plans.