Mental Wellbeing Key Focus Of Next Health Meeting

Promoting mental wellbeing and supporting recovery is a key focus at this September’s Health and Wellbeing Board meeting, held by the Council.

Mental ill-health is common (affecting around 1 in 6 people at any one time) and includes conditions such as depression and anxiety.

It affects many people in our local communities from young to old and can also have wider impacts such as preventing people from maintaining paid employment or accessing learning opportunities as well as impacting on relationships with family and friends.

There are a range of local initiatives and services already being mobilised to support people.

This includes work with schools to support the wellbeing of young people and developing a Wellbeing College to help adults achieve mental wellbeing through learning new skills, developing a healthy lifestyle and managing key social issues such as housing and debt.

The Bath and North East Somerset Health and Wellbeing Board will now be taking the opportunity to consider what more can be done to reduce the stigma around mental health and promote wellbeing.

The Board will also be exploring ways to improve accommodation and employment options for people with serious mental health problems.

Tracey Cox, Acting Accountable Officer for BaNES Clinical Commissioning Group and the Health and Wellbeing Board member lead on this priority, said: “We want to make sure that we are building on what works best for local people and delivering personalised, recovery focused mental health services for Bath and North East Somerset.”

Also being discussed at the meeting this September is a revised Better Care Fund plan for Bath and North East Somerset.

The Better Care Fund was announced by Government earlier in the year as a way to support joined up working across the health and social care landscape and ensure that local people receive services that best meet their needs.

The plans will help to drive the direction of local health care provision in Bath and North East Somerset and the Health and Wellbeing Board will be considering the revised plans and how they align to our local understanding of needs and priority issues.

Members of the public are welcome to attend the Health and Wellbeing Board meeting, which will be taking place on Wednesday 17th September (10am-12noon) in the Brunswick Room, Guildhall, Bath.

People are also encouraged to watch the meeting online through a live webcast as well as get involved and pose related questions directly to the Health and Wellbeing Board ahead of the meeting via the Council’s Twitter feed @bathnes using the hashtag #HWB.