Choosing Health
Our Choosing Health implementation Plan sets out the overarching plan for Kingston’s Community Leadership Forum and related Partnership Boards in delivering the Government’s White Paper Choosing Health.
It sets out actions required by all partner agencies that are necessary to improve the health of our local population and reduce health inequalities. It focuses on the top priorities for 2006-2008. Some require investment and some are cost-neutral. In addition it acts a signpost to other relevant local strategies and plans where action that impacts on the health of the local population is an integral part.
The Government’s White Paper Choosing Health, Making Health Choices Easier was published in November 2004 and sets out how the Government (and local health and social care organisations) will make it easier for people to make healthier choices by offering them practical help to adopt healthier lifestyles. Tackling health inequalities is central to successful delivery and targeted work with communities with the worst health and deprivation is key.
Choosing Health highlights action over six key priorities for delivery based upon more people making more healthy choices:
- Tackling health inequalities
- Reducing the numbers of people who smoke
- Tackling obesity
- Improving sexual health
- Improving mental health and well-being
- Reducing harm and encouraging sensible drinking
An extremely successful stakeholder conference took place in November 2005. This was a partnership venture between Kingston Primary Care Trust, Royal Borough of Kingston and Kingston Voluntary Action. It attracted over 80 participants on the day from a wide range of local organisations including some users and carers.
The purpose of the day was to set the context of Choosing Health, both at a national and local level, and provide a forum for stakeholders to come together to influence the direction of Kingston’s plans for implementing the Choosing Health agenda.
Kingston University 2nd year drama undergraduate students provided a series of stimulating and thought-provoking drama sketches portraying the realities of making healthy choices in a light hearted humorous way. These enabled a full and frank discussion about some of the key issues involved in making healthy choices and identifying top priorities for local action.
As a result of this, Kingston’s Choosing Health Implementation Plan was created. All of the Choosing Health priorities were acknowledged as areas of local importance, but in particular Inequalities, Sexual Health and Obesity emerged as very strong themes. It attempts to capture the discussion and debate in a meaningful way that allows local action to take place.
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