Bristol's health and wellbeing assessment - published today

A new comprehensive healthcheck for Bristol was published today by Bristol City Council and NHS Bristol.

The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment 2012 (JSNA) is the single most comprehensive point of reference for anyone planning or providing health services and other services in the city. 

It will be used by the Health and Wellbeing Board to plan services for the future as it maps out where inequalities exist between ward boundaries, the prevalence of health issues such as obesity or alcohol misuse, various population trends and how services are currently used.

Some facts for Bristol from the JSNA include:

• Population growth has been  double the national average with Bristol continuing to have a relatively young population;
• More than a quarter of children are growing up in poverty ;
• There is a nine-year gap on life expectancy - those living in Henleaze have a life expectancy of 85 compared to Southmead at 75.7 ; 
• The proportion of people living alone is projected to increase faster than other household types;
• Cycling to work has increased to nearly 10 per cent of journeys;
• Alcohol attributable admissions to hospital have been increasing steadily over the last 5 years;
• Teenage conception rates reduced by 16 per cent in 11/12;
• 94 per cent of patients wishing to access an NHS dentist can do so;
• Almost half of Bristol patients surveyed did not know how to access their GP out of hours.

Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board, Cllr Jon Rogers, said:

“Bristol is an affluent and youthful city but there are still many inequalities to be addressed. Good progress is to be found on reducing teenage pregnancy, smoking and increasing breastfeeding but the assessment shows that Bristol continues to face lifestyle health risks such as obesity and alcohol and drug misuse. The health and wellbeing board is now able to plan our strategy for Bristol to be published later this year.”

Director of Public Health, Hugh Annett, said:

“The JSNA is the single most important document for health planners in the city. It tells us exactly how services are being used and where we need to target resources to reduce inequalities. This extensive examination of health and wellbeing issues for Bristol both confirms trends and shows us how we compare to similar cities so that the £1.2 billion spent on health and care services in the city can respond to these patterns.”

Chair of Bristol LINK (Bristol Local Involvement Network), John Langley, said:

“The JSNA is at the very core of health and social care in Bristol as we look to the future, and in particular the next generation of adults.

“It's the route map which determines the journey towards a destination where Bristol becomes not only a city of good health, but more importantly I feel, a city of wellbeing.

“The JSNA should quite rightly bring about robust and meaningful multi-agency partnerships all feeding into a strategy which provides wellbeing for the growing population of the city over the years to come, and in which every resident has a vested interest in making it happen for future generations.”