Our plan to improve health and wellbeing in Essex

We have published our draft plan to improve health and wellbeing in Essex over the next five years. The plan explains how the NHS in Essex will work with local councils, voluntary organisations and community partners to help people stay well, reduce inequalities and improve access to services.

Essex is home to around two million people, and the population continues to grow. Around one in five residents is aged 65 or over, and this number is expected to increase significantly over the next decade. While many residents enjoy good health, some communities experience poorer health outcomes and greater barriers to care.

For example, around 220,000 people in Essex live in neighbourhoods among the most deprived 20% in England, and in some areas the difference in life expectancy between the most and least deprived communities can be more than 10 years. For that reason, our plan focuses on prevention, earlier support and services that work more closely together.

Our vision

Our aim is to help people in Essex live longer, healthier and more independent lives, while ensuring health and care services are accessible, high quality and focused on prevention as well as treatment.

Across Essex, the NHS provides millions of interactions with patients each year, including around 11 million GP appointments, more than 730,000 A&E attendances, and over 3 million outpatient appointments. By working together across health and care organisations, we want to improve these services and support people to stay well for longer.

Improving health outcomes in Essex

Across Essex, some health conditions and risk factors have a particularly big impact on people’s health and wellbeing.

The most common causes of early death are cardiovascular disease, cancer and respiratory disease. Many people also live with long-term conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma and depression.

However, health outcomes are not the same for everyone.

Where you live in Essex can affect both how long you live and how long you stay in good health. In some parts of the county, people can live 7–8 years less than those in more affluent areas. In some communities, people may also experience poor health 10–20 years earlier than others.

These differences are often linked to a range of factors, including access to services, income, housing, employment and lifestyle.

Lifestyle factors also play an important role. For example, smoking, unhealthy weight, physical inactivity and harmful alcohol use are all linked to poorer health outcomes and contribute to inequalities between communities.

In addition, more than 50,000 children and young people in Essex have Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND), and around 165,000 residents provide unpaid care for family members or loved ones. Some groups, including carers, disabled people and those living in more deprived areas, can face additional challenges in staying well and accessing support.

These factors highlight the importance of providing the right support at the right time, and targeting that support where it is needed most.

Our plan focuses on preventing illness where possible, reducing these inequalities, and supporting people to manage health conditions earlier and more effectively — helping to make health services in Essex better for everyone.

What we want to achieve

Our plan supports people at every stage of life.

• Start well – giving babies, children and young people the best start in life through prevention, early help and joined-up support.
  
• Live well – helping people stay well and manage long-term conditions by improving access to local services, screening and prevention.
  
• Feel well – improving mental health and emotional wellbeing by making it easier to access community support when it is needed.
  
• Age well – supporting older people to remain active and independent through stronger community care and better support for frailty.
  
• Die well – providing compassionate end-of-life care, with personalised plans and support to die in a preferred place where possible.
  
• Respond well – making sure people can access the right care, at the right time, in the right place, including urgent and emergency support.

How we will deliver the plan

To improve health and wellbeing in Essex, we will focus on:

• reducing health inequalities and focusing support where it is needed most
• providing more care closer to home in communities and neighbourhoods
• improving access to GP, pharmacy, community and mental health services
• reducing waiting times for tests and treatment
• using digital tools and data to improve care and safety
• working with partners across health, care and the community sector

Working with our communities

Feedback from residents, staff and partners has helped shape this plan. However, this is only the beginning. We will continue working with communities across Essex to refine and deliver the plan so that it reflects what matters most to local people.

By working together, we can build a health and care system that supports people to stay well, access care more easily and improve health and wellbeing across Essex.