Leeds Joint Strategic Needs Assessment 2012

The new Leeds Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) is available for people to view on the Leeds Observatory website www.westyorkshireobservatory.org/leeds

This is the second full JSNA for Leeds, with the first one having been published in 2009. It is a joint piece of work between the NHS and Leeds City Council, which pulls together information about the local population including data on health, housing, social care, education, crime and the environment. It provides an understanding of the challenges that are faced in tackling inequalities in health and wellbeing across the city.

The report aims to help organisations identify where gaps in health and wellbeing exist between different parts of the city, and provides information to help them with their plans to reduce health inequalities in Leeds.

Responsibility for public health in Leeds will be transferred to the council from April 2013, with funding from a ring fenced public health grant. The baseline figure for this grant published by the Department of Health is £30.25m, which equates to £36 spend per head. The average spend per head for England is £40, with other core cities faring far better. For example Liverpool get £73 per head, Manchester £57 per head and Sheffield £44 per head.

Councillor Keith Wakefield, leader of Leeds City Council and chair of the health and wellbeing board said:
"It is disappointing that there has been no real sign of the gap in health inequalities between residents living in the more affluent and the most deprived areas of Leeds reducing over the past 10 years. It is a shocking statistic for a city as prosperous as we are, and addressing this inequality is a major focus for the council.

"We will take over responsibility for public health next year, and when we get these services under our control we will have a much better chance of working in partnership with the NHS to reduce inequalities in health.

“Another issue is that Leeds is locked into a concerningly low public health budget, which gives us less spend per head than many other core cites. The JSNA will be a key tool in helping us to produce a Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy with our partners, helping us to bring together the resources we need to tackle problems and make improvements to health and well being in Leeds over the next three years.”

Dr Ian Cameron, director of public health, NHS Leeds / Leeds City Council said:
“The JSNA is a very useful resource for anybody that lives or works in Leeds, and particularly those involved in commissioning health and wellbeing services.

“I would encourage these organisations to use the JSNA as they look to develop their services. It will give them a better understanding of the factors affecting service users and communities, help them to develop or commission services that effectively meet the specific needs of different communities, and enable them to provide a more holistic approach by being able to effectively anticipate future health, social care and support needs.”

To access the JSNA online, please visit www.westyorkshireobservatory.org/leeds and click on the ‘resources and documents’ button.

It is a statutory duty of Leeds City Council and NHS Leeds to produce a Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) that identifies the currently unmet and future health, social care and wellbeing needs of the local population.

The legislation intends that the JSNA will inform the plans, targets, priorities and actions necessary in reducing identified inequalities and achieving the desired health and wellbeing outcomes for Leeds.

The JSNA includes the following:
• An overview of the health and wellbeing of the Leeds population.
• Tailor-made data packs covering over 80 different areas from broad population information to specific behaviours, health conditions and wider factors that influence health and wellbeing.
• Geographically-specific information on health and wellbeing and social issues affecting different neighbourhoods.
• Emerging key issues and implications for commissioning and service provision.

The data pack provides a comprehensive profile of Leeds across a number of areas crucial to the health and wellbeing of the population:
• demography;
• socio-economic and environmental factors;
• lifestyle (particularly 'healthy living') issues;
• ill health; and
• health and social care service provision.

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Additional info
The Leeds Observatory provides a wide range of data on various topics including crime, deprivation, the economy, education, health, the environment and population, and provides the data at various levels of geography within the Leeds area. The Observatory also provides a platform to signpost people to strategic and operational documents, and will be the only place to access the new Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) online.

For media enquiries, please contact;
Claire Macklam, Leeds City Council press office (0113) 395 1578
Email: claire.macklam@leeds.gov.uk