Roadmap to support good health in Croydon

Residents have helped to create a five-year plan to improve health and wellbeing and reduce inequalities across all life stages.

The new five-year Croydon Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy for 2024 to 2029 is a shared vision to achieve better health outcomes for everyone in the borough.

The plan is led by Croydon's Health and Wellbeing Board which includes Croydon Council, the NHS, Healthwatch Croydon, and the voluntary and community sector.

It will help to deliver key priorities in Executive Mayor Jason Perry's business plan for Croydon and the South West London Integrated Care Partnership Strategy.

The five key priorities in Croydon's Health and Wellbeing Strategy focus on:

1. Achieving good mental health and wellbeing for all
2. Supporting people with cost of living increases to eat and sleep well and have heat
3. Creating healthy, safe and well-connected neighbourhoods and communities
4. Supporting children, young people and families
5. Helping the older population to live healthy, independent and fulfilling lives

During the strategy development, Croydon residents were asked for their views on the vision and priorities in the draft plan and how they could be improved to meet health and wellbeing needs.

Feedback included ensuring that improving, protecting and promoting mental health and wellbeing was at the heart of the strategy's actions, with more focus on children and young people and the importance of social hubs and health talks at schools.

Residents also wanted more opportunities to socialise to reduce isolation, and better partnerships between organisations and communities to deliver the outcomes in the plan.

Their views have also helped to shape the actions in the plan to champion the green agenda in Croydon and help to tackle climate change.

The Health and Wellbeing Board will closely monitor the progress of the strategy's actions to ensure they are making a positive impact to people's lives and improving partnership working with residents and across council, health, social care, community and voluntary sectors.

This includes establishing a multiagency Cost of Living Action Group to make it easier for communities to access the support they need.

The board will also champion for health improvements to be included in all policies to make the best use of collective resources and create conditions which support good health by default.

"This new strategy will help us to create a borough where everybody can achieve good health and wellbeing by focusing on the issues that matter most to local people. Health needs in Croydon are varied and we look forward to working with our partner organisations to continue to improve lives."

Jason Perry, Executive Mayor of Croydon

Councillor Yvette Hopley, Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board and Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care, said: "We are grateful to everyone who provided feedback and participated in developing Croydon's five-year Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy. We are dedicated to creating a healthier and happier Croydon through tackling inequalities and improving and protecting health for all. The strategy is a collective commitment to ensure we better work together to build a healthier Croydon."