Blackpool Council Annual Health Report 2019 Blackpool Council Annual Health Report PAGES | Page 45

THE HEALTH OF THE PEOPLE OF BLACKPOOL 2018 HEALTHY BEGINNINGS FOR A HEALTHY FUTURE As mentioned in the foreword, the Integrated Care System (ICS) is committed to keeping children’s health and wellbeing at the core of all its activities and has suggested the following key impact areas to work on in the coming year: • Smoking in pregnancy • Perinatal mental health • Infant feeding • Dental health • School readiness and ‘life’ readiness • Taking an ACE/trauma informed approach This report has shown that Blackpool is already making great strides to improve some of these areas (in particular smoking in pregnancy, dental health, the Health Visiting transformation and taking an ACE/trauma informed approach), and we are committed to taking action to improve the health of Blackpool’s children at every stage of their lives. 2019 brings further opportunities to benefit the health of children as we embark on renewing our healthy weight and 0–19 strategies. RECOMMENDATIONS In light of all we have achieved so far and all that there is still to do, I make the following recommendations for ensuring the best health outcomes for Blackpool: 1. Continue to invest in early years interventions – for the health of our children and future health of Blackpool as a whole 2. Work with Health Visitors to reduce smoking related harm by improving access to the maternity stop smoking service and reducing exposure to second hand smoke in the home 3. Work with our partners across the whole system to continue to make progress towards the aims of the Healthy Weight Declaration 4. Continue to advocate wider measures to protect children’s ability to engage in education and improve their prospects for the future (poverty, housing, preventing ACEs) 5. Commit to innovative and creative approaches towards reducing teen pregnancy rates to national levels 6. Work with Head Start to build personal and community resilience and give young people the tools to support their emotional and psychological wellbeing 7. Be proactive within the health and care sectors to advocate for our young people and ensure that no child or young person falls through the net at points of transition. @TheGrange 45