A radical new approach on the way organisations and authorities work together to improve the health and safety of people in York and North Yorkshire was unveiled today.

The county's first-ever Health Improvement Programme (HImP), in which NHS managers will work with groups including local authorities, voluntary groups and the police and fire services, will focus on six key areas.

HEART DISEASE and strokes, the leading causes of death in North Yorkshire, where efforts will be made to reduce illness by a third among the under-65s by 2010 with policies to identify those most at risk from disease, reduce numbers of smokers and improve immediate care to patients

ACCIDENTS, with plans to reduce them by a fifth, including improved road safety and ensuring that smoke detectors are fitted in homes

CANCER, where the existing approach of improved care to sufferers will be extended with more emphasis on preventive measures like encouraging healthy lifestyles

MENTAL HEALTH, where there is a target to reduce the death rate from suicide and undetermined injury by a sixth, and there is a commitment to identifying needs which have not been met by listening to people using the services and their carers

OLDER PEOPLE, with a proposal to establish local multi-agency planning groups to draw up three-year schemes to develop services

RESPIRATORY DISEASE, particularly asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease which are the main problems in North Yorkshire, with plans to ascertain the areas of greatest need, develop a tobacco control strategy and review specialist services.

Central to the plan is a joint approach by all the relevant agencies - to tackle the root causes of ill health; to deal with it by delivering high quality services; and to reduce the burden of ill-health on individuals, their carers, the community and services by promoting good health.

The medical director for North Yorkshire Health Authority, Professor Mark Baker, said: "This programme provides for much closer working between health and social services and other partners in North Yorkshire to improve the health of local people."

He said that following the approval of a framework for a new way of working and discussions with key organisations, the authority would be in a position to launch the programme for 1999-2000 in April.

"It is not intended to be a 'finished' document but an evolving one which lays the foundations for a more comprehensive HImP in future years," he said.

The health authority board will be recommended to endorse the programme next Monday.

see COMMENT 'Improving the county's health'

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