Better health for the borough

Better health for the borough

Residents in the Rochdale Borough are getting healthier, according to new statistics.

Latest figures show that life expectancy has increased for both men and women who live in the borough, with men estimated to live on average 75.6 years, and women 79.8 years.

Since 2007, 11,341 people have been helped to lose weight, smashing NHS HMRs (Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale) target of 9,000 people by 2010.

5,805 people have been helped to quit smoking over the last three years, also beating the target of 5,000 by 2010. This has helped to reduce the number of deaths due to smoking from 378 to 338, as well as the number of people who die because of heart disease from 372 to 299.

There has also seen a real reduction in early deaths from cancers.

The Health Trainer Service, a team of people from the local community who have been trained to give health advice, have helped an impressive 6,951 people to improve their lifestyle, either by quitting smoking, losing weight, becoming more active or improving their diet. Plus, 61.1% of children in the borough are physically active, which is significantly higher than the England average of 49.6%.

Wendy Meston, Acting Director of Public Health at NHS HMR, said: “Leading a healthy lifestyle is essential to reducing the risk of developing health problems such as heart disease, obesity, diabetes or even cancer. We have started to make real progress. Changing our lifestyle can be a challenge, so the fact that we are starting to see some positive results is a testament to the hard work and motivation of local people and our services.

“We offer a range of services here in the borough to help us to improve our lifestyle. From gyms and exercise schemes, Weight Watchers and Slimming World, to walking schemes and cooking skills. Good partnership working between local people and services is vital and our borough’s lifestyle strategy ‘Do you feel good?’ is a great example of how NHS HMR, Rochdale Borough Council, Link4Life, Patients Council and Pennine Acute NHS Trust works with you to improve local health.”

Irene Davidson, Rochdale Borough Council Leader, said: “Even small changes to your lifestyle can lead to big differences in improving your overall health. We’re committed to working with our partners to make healthy choices easier choices; by providing first class leisure and fitness facilities, quality health promotion and education services and targeted support for those in most need. It’s important that we continue to reduce health inequalities in the borough.”

Craig McAteer, Managing Director at Link4Life, added: “Link4Life has extended its partnership work significantly with NHS HMR in sports, fitness and the arts and has also invested heavily in new facilities. The feedback we are getting from customers tells us of real improvement in people’s day-to-day lives, whether that’s generally feeling healthier and happier or starting to live medication free.”

For more information about improving your lifestyle and local services, visit www.doyoufeelgood.org