Gateshead Health and Wellbeing Strategy

Our Gateshead Joint Strategic Needs Assessment helps us to understand the key issues facing people in Gateshead. The ongoing challenges, and emerging issues, for health and wellbeing in Gateshead are set out by stage of life; Best start in life, Living well for longer and Ageing well.

We know that people in Gateshead experience significant health inequalities.

The Director of Public Health Annual Report 2017-18 (PDF, 2 MB)(opens new window) focused specifically on this issue.

Two babies, born on this day in Gateshead, could have as much as a 10-year difference in life expectancy due entirely to the circumstances into which they are born. If you look beyond Gateshead those same babies could have as much as a 15-year difference in life expectancy when compared to the most affluent area in Britain.

We have developed a Local Index of Need (LIoN) to identify geographically where our most vulnerable communities are within Gateshead, so that we can effectively target our resources.

Overall Local Index of need (LIoN) 2019 (opens new window)

From this we know that, during 2019, 40% were in vulnerable, or very vulnerable, situations with a further 29% just coping.

Gateshead Residents' level of need - 2019

We want to change this, to make Gateshead a place where fewer people need direct support and more people are thriving.

We want to help our communities not just survive, but to flourish, prosper and succeed. We are working differently, with partners, to achieve the right outcome for those people and families who require more care and support.

We have reviewed available evidence on the most effective way to achieve our ambitions. In response to our review, we have adopted the six policy objectives set out in the 'Marmot Review: Fair Society, Healthy Lives' (2010), as a framework to help deliver our vision of making Gateshead a place where everyone thrives.

The policy objectives are:

• give every child the best start in life
• enable all children, young people and adults to maximise their capabilities and have control over their lives
• create fair employment and good work for all
• ensure a healthy standard of living for all
• create and develop healthy and sustainable places and communities
• strengthen the role and impact of ill health prevention