Annual Public Health Report

Speech by Cllr Zoe Patrick delivered to Cabinet on Tue 21st Apr 2009

I would like to address the section entitled "Debits on the Balance sheet: Evidence of worsening Public Health"

Inequalities widen

It would be interesting to hear what the Cabinet Member for Place is doing to address some of these issues in her portfolio. It is a challenge but I see no evidence of any work being undertaken in this area to address this.

The credit crunch and the recession

This is another challenge facing us which we have not had to deal with before and I note the sentence saying that traditionally services aimed at preventing problems, promoting health and detecting early disease have been the first to be squeeze. It says about 'needing a strong resolve to ensure this does not happen over the next 5 years.' It would be good to hear the Leaders' pledge to deal with this if re-elected after June.

Teenage Pregnancies Rise and Persisting Inequalities in GCSE results

I have already dealt with teenage pregnancies in previous comments to the last Council meeting. However the GCSE results in parts of Oxford City and in students from black and ethnic minority communities is particularly concerning and I would like to hear what is being done to tackle this.

Focus on Deprivation in parts of Oxford City and Banbury

Deprivation in Oxford City and Banbury comes back to the first point I have made about inequalities widening, and again, it would be good to hear of any clear action points being made to address this.

Older People and the Demographic Time Bomb

Having sat on the review dealing with this issue I have to say that I agree with the Director's opinion that progress is still too slow and lacks sufficient senior-level focus. There is insufficient progress being made and I certainly endorse everything that has been said here about carers; current health services and social services would indeed collapse without them. I wholeheartedly support recommendation 4 on this issue, especially identifying direct support for carers.

Children and Deprivation

I welcome the section on children and deprivation; again it highlights the necessity of tackling this issue seriously and focussing on the areas of need.

Inequalities in Attainment

Again I would highlight the inequalities in attainment by locality and especially refer you to the last sentence where the worry is that given the national trend towards better results, we do not seem to be improving here. The attainment in black and minority ethnic groups, as mentioned earlier, is poor so we must start to prioritise here.

Mental Health

I welcome the section on Mental Health and agree with the statement that although real progress has been made; it is not yet sufficient and the effort must be maintained.

There is much that could be said on this report; it is very informative and valuable to helping us deliver Oxfordshire's services. I just hope that the Cabinet take all the findings seriously and act accordingly.