People living in a seaside town have been warned to look after their health as early as possible after figures show many start to become frail in their forties. Karen Smith, director of adult social services at Blackpool Council, said alcohol and drug abuse were partly to blame for some residents falling into ill health while still relatively young.
The stark warning came as councillors were updated on the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) launched 12 months ago to co-ordinate NHS and care services. A meeting of the council’s Adult Social Care and Health Scrutiny Committee heard one of the main priorities of the ICB was to intervene earlier to prevent people from falling into poor health.
Ms Smith said: “In Blackpool frailty starts in the mid-forties for a lot of our population who have drug and alcohol problems, and major issues with their relationships and housing.
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“People in Blackpool have far fewer years of healthy life than in other parts of the country, so starting to build good habits in that early middle life is particularly important to us.”
Among the priorities is to stop people from smoking, including vaping which the meeting was told was not shown to deter people from tobacco products. Ms Smith said: “Respiratory is one of the areas where we will focus on what we can do better.
“Our analysis says that if we do nothing else, stopping smoking in the town will have the biggest impact.”
NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB chief executive Kevin Lavery said the reform progamme would be a five-year journey. Preventative care will be at the heart of future services, using collective resources more efficiently including in the community and harnessing new ways of working such as virtual wards.
There are now 750 virtual ward beds in Lancashire and South Cumbria – equivalent to the number of beds at Blackpool Victoria Hospital – meaning patients can be monitored, tested and treated at home. Mr Lavery said there were challenges ahead, including due to a growing elderly population.
But “getting ahead of the game, prevention and making sure people don’t go into hospital because their conditions weren’t spotted early enough” were all key to reforming NHS services.
