Talking health inequalities: views about North Tyneside’s Equally Well strategy and implementation plan

Healthwatch North Tyneside was asked by North Tyneside’s Health and Wellbeing Board to gather voluntary sector and service user feedback to influence work to address local Health inequalities in North Tyneside’s Equally Well Strategy and implementation plan.

Consultation on the North Tyneside Equally Well strategy and implementation plan took place during July and August 2022. We wanted to hear from local voluntary and community sector organisations and residents who used their services.

The aim was to hear the views of the voluntary and community sector in North Tyneside and the people they work with 28 organisations were involved in the consultation from across the borough, some serving the whole of North Tyneside and beyond and others mainly a specific locality.

There are seven individual themes within the Equally Well strategy and implementation plan:

• 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
• Places and communities we live in and with
• Our life and health behaviours
• An integrated health and care system

The report contains feedback about each of these individual themes within the Equally Well strategy and implementation plan. These have been shared with North Tyneside’s Health and Wellbeing Board in September 2022. The full details of the views and comments received are being shared with the leads for each individual theme, alongside an analysis of the key issues within that theme. The evidence gathered continues to influence how services are designed and delivered.

A series of sessions were arranged by the seven organisations of NT Leaders Together (a partnership of seven organisations/members working together on the Equally Well strategy consultation), to enable service users to explore what health equality meant to them, and what their healthiest and happiest life would look like in North Tyneside. An artist took residence across the groups to support people to express their views creatively. This lighthouse image (right) was one of their creations.

We will be providing an update on progress on how the feedback gathered in shaping services in February.

Read the full report: Equally Well Views and Feedback Public – Final.