health and wellbeing

Our evaluation of the Lincolnshire Well-Being service proves that initiatives like this work. Prevention is key in local authority areas with a rural component where distance exacerbates the cost of acute care.

“How many people join a gym in the new year and don’t use it? What if that money went into public health rather than a private company?” These are the questions Akeen Ali, director of public health at Northamptonshire county council, is asking himself.

Not that Ali doesn’t want people to join a gym and use it. He is part of the core team launching Northamptonshire’s Wellbeing Company, a new community interest company (CIC) created by the trust, Northamptonshire county council and Northamptonshire University.

Due to launch next spring, it is being billed as the first countywide prevention service, focused on keeping people well rather than treating them only after illness occurs. It will cover a range of traditional NHS services and new offerings such as meditation and yoga.

Not-for-profit organisation delivering health services for Alaska Native people has tackled waiting times and improved outcomes. What can the NHS learn?

The CIC (a type of social enterprise) is part of the council’s “next generation” service model, which it hopes will save £150m a year.

The council plans to outsource services to four separate new mutuals over the next four years, the Wellbeing Company being the first.