The most significant item on the agenda was a report on the new Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy for Darlington. This document outlines a plan to improve the health of people in Darlington, and to address the causes of health inequality. There was also a report on a new strategy for supporting children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). The Board was also provided with a new physical activity strategy.

Darlington Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy

The meeting was scheduled to consider the final version of the Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2025-2029. It describes a plan to improve health and wellbeing in Darlington using a life course approach, focussing on giving children the best start in life, helping working-age people stay healthy, and enabling older people to enjoy a healthy and independent later life. The strategy is described as seeking to focus collective efforts on how we can tackle these health inequalities and bring better health and wellbeing for all residents of our Borough .

The strategy focuses on eight priorities:

1. Giving children the best start in life: covering pregnancy and early years development, and improving the mental health and resilience of children.
2. Helping people to stop smoking: with an ambition to reduce smoking rates in Darlington to 5% or less by 2030.
3. Improving mental health and wellbeing in adulthood: including reducing rates of suicide, and increasing access to treatment for drug and alcohol dependency.
4. Minimising the amount of time older people spend in ill health: including making every contact count, increasing older people's access to health improvement services and reviewing uptake of NHS Health Checks.
5. Maximising independence in later life: including developing a new integrated falls prevention strategy and increasing awareness of the importance of end-of-life care.
6. Improving workplace health and supporting people into good work: by supporting businesses to provide better support for their employees.
7. Creating healthier environments: by tackling the commercial determinants of health and working with the planning system to create better access to healthy environments.

The strategy was developed collaboratively with a range of stakeholders, and a draft was previously considered at the Health and Wellbeing Board meeting on 12 September 2024. The report pack says that the final strategy includes:

Additional detail added on the wider determinants of health and drivers of health inequalities.

SEND Strategy

The Board was also scheduled to be provided with a summary of the new SEND Strategy 2025-2029. The strategy is described as being coproduced with stakeholders including the Darlington Parent Carer Forum and the Integrated Care Board. The summary report says that The voices of children and young people have been central to developing both the strategic objectives and outcomes in the strategy. and that officers have met with over 70 young people in early years, primary, secondary, Further education and specialist settings to ensure that young people’s priorities have shaped the development of the strategy . There is an increase in demand for SEND services in Darlington, and the council is working to expand capacity and ensure its finances are sustainable.

The Strategy is structured around the five preparation for adulthood outcomes outlined in the 2015 SEND Code of Practice:

1. Being healthy
2. Having good education, training and opportunities
3. Enjoying family, friends and relationships
4. Moving into adulthood towards independence
5. Darlington: our town, community and environment

The Board was also scheduled to be provided with a separate consultation document that describes the new strategy, and explains that a consultation on the strategy has commenced.

Darlington Physical Activity Strategy

The Board was scheduled to consider a report on the new Darlington Physical Activity Strategy 2025-2035. The report pack says that The purpose of the Physical Activity strategy is to improve participation and engagement in physical activity and sport in Darlington and support people to get active and move more across the whole lifespan . This is said to be because regular exercise reduces our risk of illness - from heart disease, stroke, colon and breast cancer to obesity and osteoporosis, among other conditions . However, Around 1 in 3 men and 1 in 2 women are not achieving recommended levels of activity for good health . The report says that the strategy was developed using a Sector Led Improvement approach to facilitate multiagency working.

The new strategy sets out a vision that all Darlington residents and those visiting and working here to have access to appropriate physical activity opportunities that positively supports their health and wellbeing . It sets out a number of aims for increasing participation in physical activity, and uses the eight investments that work for physical activity as a framework for the delivery of the strategy:

1. Embedding physical activity into healthcare pathways
2. Encouraging active travel
3. Using urban design to support physical activity
4. Supporting workplaces to enable physical activity
5. Providing opportunities for sport and recreation for all
6. Supporting schools to increase children's physical activity
7. Delivering community wide physical activity programmes
8. Using public education and mass media to promote physical activity

The report pack also contains a detailed action plan describing what will be done to achieve each of these aims.