Issue - meetings

The Board received a presentation on Staffordshire’s Loneliness and Social Isolation Reduction Plan from Vicky Rowley.

As part of the Health and Wellbeing Board Strategy, Healthy Ageing was outlined as one of the four priorities. The Integrated Care System had recognised the importance of ageing well and had produced a Healthy Ageing and Managing Frailty in Older Age Strategy in 2021. Both strategies identify loneliness and social isolation as a cause of poor health. Development of a Plan would support delivery of both strategies.

The aim is to develop a collaborative and comprehensive Loneliness and Social Isolation Reduction Plan that builds on national guidance and best practice, local intelligence and local views.

The Plan would include:

·         Raising awareness about loneliness and social isolation and its impact in our communities

·         Foundation Services

·         Direct Interventions

·         Gateway Services; and

·         Structural Enablers

Action to support the Plan was already underway, in that:

·         The Supportive Communities programme had mapped assets in local communities and promoted them on Staffordshire Connects;

·         Investment in Support Staffordshire to build additional community capacity where needed;

·         Campaigns such as Let Us Beat Loneliness Together and Talk Suicide; and

·         NHS Charities Together in Staffordshire had funded 14 loneliness and isolation projects across the County.

Next steps were highlighted to the Board:

·         The Plan would form part of the Healthy Ageing priority for the Board;

·         The approach would be taken to existing networks and partnerships;

·         The Supportive Communities Infrastructure would be utilised to deliver key elements of the plan and measure impact; and

·         Work would be shared with the ICS Frailty Board and Mental Health Partners.

The Board questioned why it was aiming to reduce reported levels of loneliness and not loneliness itself. In response, measuring loneliness was noted to be quite difficult, and the metrics were chosen because they were specific to measure, however a more holistic view would be taken to understand levels of loneliness rather than just focusing on the public health framework.

It was noted that higher reported levels of loneliness were present in East Staffordshire and Cannock, in comparison with Lichfield. More work needed to be undertaken to understand any causal effect for those particular areas that’s down to economic or socio-economic factors which may have an influence.

Resolved – That the Board (a) approve the development of a Loneliness and Social Isolation Reduction Plan and ask that all partners contribute; and

(b) Receive future reports on the progress of the Plan.