Council and NHS create pooled fund to improve health across borough
A pooled fund to invest in programmes to help people live healthier lives and support families across the borough has been created by Kingston Council and the local NHS, totalling £4.3m over 4 years.
The fund will be invested in increasing prevention programmes such as stop smoking services, encouraging behaviour change around alcohol consumption and healthy eating, working with community and voluntary organisations, and supporting the implementation of community and family hubs.
The additional investment in prevention and early intervention will help ensure babies get a good start in life, families getting more support. It will help boost programmes to enable people to be a healthy weight and reduce the numbers who go on to develop heart disease, suffer strokes or a heart attack, or who develop cancer.
Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care and Health Councillor Sabah Hamed said:
This is a rare opportunity to be able to fund a wider range of programmes that will deliver real change for communities and families across our borough.
The programmes we will support will help reduce health inequalities and improve health and wellbeing. Over time this will reduce demand and pressures on over-stretched services, particularly in children’s and adults’ social care, and for our NHS.
The 4-year fund has been created by combining remaining Covid funding with existing public health funding and a £1 million contribution from NHS Kingston Place.
The programme will build on work developed during the pandemic, focusing on developing existing services and expanding or improving current community provision.