Priority 4 Strong, Safe and Supportive Communities

We want people to thrive in supportive communities, with people motivated to help one another.  Our communities are strong, vibrant places to live, where people are not anxious about violence and abuse or criminal activity and social disorder, and where individuals are supported by families and friends within their communities and are not lonely or isolated.

A shift towards place based health will be delivered by a step-change in the nature and quality of out-of-hospital care recognising the importance of the home and the need for it to be warm and safe and for individuals and communities to support one another

The Facts:

  • Devon has a diverse population and deprivation is dispersed, inequality takes many forms
  • 20% of the older population are mildly lonely, 8-10% of the older population are intensely lonely
  • 57% of social care users do not have as much social contact as they would like
  • Highest risk groups are lone pensioners, older carers, people over 75, the recently bereaved and older people in deprived areas
  • Domestic violence and abuse affects a large number of people, with an estimated 8.2% of women and 4.0% of men aged 16 to 59 had been a victim of domestic abuse past year according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales) for 2015-16 we estimate 27,500 women and 12,500 men experienced domestic violence in the past 12 months, and 91,000 women and 41,100 men experiencing domestic violence since the age of 16
  • Fuel poverty rates are high and many households experience high cost and poor quality housing
  • Many areas are in the most deprived nationally for the indoor environment.
Achievements so far

  • There are many examples of our vibrant and thriving voluntary and community sector
  • There are many examples of place based approaches to meet local need and building on local assets. For example Integrated Care Exeter (ICE)
  • Cranbrook has achieved Healthy New Town status and a Health, Care and Wellbeing Strategy has been developed to ensure the health of the new younger population
  • Protected characteristics are now embedded in the JSNA
  • The number of households accepted as homeless has increased nationally, but in Devon the number of homeless acceptances has decreased and rough sleeping amongst single homeless people in Devon has increased however, this rise is significantly less than the national increase of 30%.
Goals for 2016-2020

  • The learning from Cranbrook will be shared with our other new and growing towns
  • The learning from programmes such as ICE will support development of the new place based approaches
  • Develop the domestic and sexual violence and abuse strategy to move towards ending domestic violence and abuse in Devon
  • We need to address the quality, affordability and warmth of homes in Devon and ensure housing is an important aspect of any new model of care
  • Develop closer links with the Safer Devon Partnership

See priority: 1, 2, 3

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Integrated Care for Exeter: Getting Serious about Prevention

Mobilisation of a City-wide architecture for prevention and community resilience – Integrated Care Exeter (ICE) is a strategic alliance of leading public, voluntary and community sector organisations, set up in recognition that, to meet the needs of our changing and older population, we have to find another way of delivering public services. The model builds on what already exists in the city, and stakeholder enthusiasm to pool resources. This establishes a single structure for encouraging preventative behaviours by individuals and promoting “resilience” within the system and across communities.  In practical terms this means offering a range of community-based options to individuals, who can access what they want to maintain health and wellbeing, reducing the need for statutory care services now and into the future.

Cosy Devon Central Heating Fund transforms elderly couples’ life

A retired couple from Devon have had their lives transformed; they suffer from ill health and lived without proper heating for decades until they were given support via the Central Heating Fund a grant secured by Devon Local Authorities.

Mr Burgess suffers with COPD and uses a stair lift and an oxygen tank. Before the central heating they had numerous electric plug-in heaters, an open fire and at one point used butane cylinders. But they were advised by Torbay Hospital that due to the oxygen tank they needed to keep his equipment 10 metres away from potential fire hazards. This gave Frank very limited space to be able to put his oxygen tank. The hospital had also advised them to get central heating. Mr Burgess commented: ‘Our home is now much easier to heat and we are much more comfortable. We no longer need to worry about the risk of open flames and the oxygen tank’

A fuel poverty and health course has been delivered to health professionals and others to support referrals to the scheme and raise awareness.