Natural England

North Nottinghamshire’s health, environment and social organisations united on Wednesday (10 January 2006) in a bid to address health problems plaguing communities in and around Worksop.

In the first agreement of its kind, Bassetlaw PCT, Manton Community Alliance, Natural England, housing association A1, Employment Services, and many others, pledged to battle together against preventable health problems.

Worksop South East, which includes the Manton neighbourhood, has some of the worst health statistics in the country.

Of the area’s 7,634 people, 38.5% are obese (compared with a national average of 22%), 45.3% are smokers (compared with 26%) and just 12.6% have their daily intake of five fresh fruit and vegetables (compared with 24% nationally).

Heart disease, stroke and lung cancer are higher than the national average and the average male life expectancy is 67. Welbeck and Rampton also feature badly in the health statistics.

Manton Community Alliance, a neighbourhood management pathfinder, will drive the initiative to come up with a prescription of proactive measures that will help to reduce illnesses such as obesity, coronary heart disease, osteoarthritis and even certain cancers.

Actions will include getting people to have more contact with the natural environment, to improve their diets and to engage more socially. Improving housing and getting more people back into work are also in the offing.

The agreement was reached at a health conference in Worksop on Wednesday, attended by more than 100 different public bodies and organised by Bassetlaw PCT, Manton Community Alliance and Bassetlaw Local Strategic Partnership.

Manton Neighbourhood Manager Richard Edwards said: “We have to stop putting the plaster on health problems and start preventing them in the first place.”

Dr William Bird, strategic health advisor for Natural England, told delegates: “World-wide studies show that people are healthier the more contact they have with their natural environment. Even showing people pictures of a green space causes their blood pressure to drop within three minutes.

“For every 10% increase in green space there is a reduction in health complaints, equivalent to the reduction of five years in age. Regular activity can halve the risk of heart disease, osteoarthritis is worsened by lack of activity and being overweight and 2,500 colon cancer deaths per year are caused by inactivity.”

He said: “Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is going up dramatically and costs the NHS about £600 million a year mostly through emergency admissions. Regular walking can halve the number of emergency admission. We could save our NHS thousands of pounds – not through medication but by using our natural environment.”

Better housing was also highlighted as a direct route to reducing health problems.

Joice Richards, director of strategic change at A1 Housing, said: “There are 50,000 deaths each winter due to cold homes: mould and condensation is one of the main causes of child asthma and cold homes induce stress.

“Every year, 2.8m accidents happen in the home. Simple design improvements, such as having a socket in the right place, moving a cooker from behind a door and non-slip floors, significantly reduce the number of collisions, burns, scalds, cuts and breakages.”

Richard Edwards, who will be drawing up the strategy for the Worksop area, said: “Hundreds of organisations need to be involved to do neighbourhood management properly so we need clear strategic thinking. Otherwise we will be wasting public money and duplicating effort.”

“If by just using the natural resources around us, such as Clumber Park, we can start to make a real impact on improving public health, then that’s what we should be doing.”

The blueprint for a multi-agency approach will be drawn up in the next few months.