The Director of Public Health presented the report on reducing the Impact of Cardiovascular Disease in Thurrock. Members were referred to the presentation PowerPoint:

https://democracy.thurrock.gov.uk/documents/b19178/Item 11 - Annual Public Health Report 2022 Presentation 03rd-Nov-2022 19.00 Health and Wellbeing O.pdf?T=9

Councillor Ralph thanked Jo Broadbent for the brilliant report and thanked her for all the work and effort to produce such a great piece of work.

Councillor Ralph questioned whether the vape initiative was still happening to which Jo Broadbent stated this had been severely impacted by the covid pandemic, with shops closing and people moving to on-line ordering. There was still an agreement with one shop but there was definitely less traffic through that shop. Jo Broadbent stated that the service model needed to change.

Councillor Ralph questioned whether there was any evidence from retailers that the sale of tobacco had gone down in Thurrock to back up the figures that people were smoking less to which Jo Broadbent stated she did not have those figures to hand but would find out and let members know. Following the meeting it was confirmed the most up to date data we had was presented in the Tobacco Control Needs Assessment. This included data on illicit tobacco sales but not legal tobacco sales. Smoking was more usually monitored locally through survey of smokers not tobacco sales. The assessment can be view from the following link:

https://www.thurrock.gov.uk/sites/default/files/assets/documents/jsna-tobacco-2021-v01.pdf

Kim James referred to the increase in numbers diagnosed with atrial fibrillation since 2016 and the monitoring that was undertaken by general practitioners, questioned whether the increase in numbers diagnosed was from then, as there was a lot of diagnostic activity at that time in primary care and was this being done more recently as patients had less face-to-face contact with GPs. Questioned whether the facts and figures were recent or within that period of time. Jo Broadbent stated she would have to go back and look at the exact figures for atrial fibrillation but what was looked at was 2016 up to the most recent data. Generally, for each of the indicators looked at saw an upward trend year on year, with the general trend upwards identified clearly that people who were at higher risk of atrial fibrillation were getting identified and diagnosed.

Councillor Fish questioned why some minority ethnic groups had a higher prevalence of cardiovascular disease. Jo Broadbent stated that this was probably multifactorial with no single answer, there may be a genetic component, a health risk behaviour component and potentially access to services and getting access to preventative support, early diagnosis could also impact on the outcomes.

Councillor Fish referred to access to services and questioned what the challenges were to which Jo Broadbent stated that for cardiovascular disease in Thurrock there was a higher rate of under-diagnosis in all non-white ethnic minority groups than the white ethnic minority groups. This was a complex area and that across a number of services there was an under representation of non-white ethnic minority groups and agreed this needed to be looked into and understood better.

Councillor Fish stated that where services were being delivered may need to be addressed to which Jo Broadbent agreed.

Councillor Polley stated some education was required to be put in place to help identify that overweight and shortness of breath was a cardiovascular disease concern with the biggest piece of work that needed to be done was in the more deprived areas of Thurrock. Jo Broadbent stated the council had a whole system obesity strategy but with everything that had happened during covid and time moving on it had been recognised the strategy needed to be refreshed so work was ongoing. This needed to a whole system approach as they were all complex issues, with a stakeholder workshop being planned for January 2023 and a report would be presented back to the committee next year.

Councillor Ralph thanked Jo Broadbent again for the excellent report and how this had to be a whole overview of health and questioned whether the use of recreational cannabis could be included going forward. As although the reduction of smoking had been looked into, the use of cannabis which was often mixed with tobacco had been identified in Thurrock and could be an issue especially for those people with mental health problems.    

RESOLVED

That Members noted the contents of the Annual Public Health Report 2022 and approved its publication.