Public Health and Communities

Public Health

Public Health is predominantly funded by a grant from the Department of Health and Social Care. Most of the grant is spent on the commissioning services for which the Council has a statutory requirement to meet identified local public health needs. These include:

sexual health services – STI testing, treatment and contraception
sexual health services – advice, prevention, and promotion
Public Health Nursing Service
substance misuses treatment services (adults and children)
preventing and reducing harm from drug misuse and alcohol misuse in adults
NHS Health Check programme
Stop Smoking Service and interventions
National Child Measurement programme
oral health promotion service
public mental health
healthy weight and physical activity

Public Health also has a statutory duty to provide public health expert advice to NHS commissioners and Local Care Partnerships. There is also a requirement to produce a Joint Strategic Needs Assessment, a Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment and the Director of Public Health must produce an annual report (see below).

Public Health also has a responsibility to ensure local health protection arrangements are in place to protect the health of the local population from threats and incidents which may pose threat to public health.

Communities

The Council’s Communities team is responsible for commissioning library and youth services and the South West Heritage Trust. It works in partnership on a range of community safety issues and ensures that the Council meets its duties in relation to:

interpersonal and gender-based violence
domestic abuse
domestic homicide reviews
serious violence
supporting individuals at risk of being drawn into terrorism

The team helps to build community collaboration and resilience; deploys grants for welfare funding, income/energy relief schemes (the Household Support Fund), administers the Council’s Growing Communities Fund and member locality budgets.

It commissions support through Citizen Advice, coordinates the Safer Devon Partnership, supports asylum and dispersal, delivers government resettlement programmes, supports ethnically diverse communities, and supports the Devon Armed Forces Covenant.

Annual Public Health Report 2023-24: Health in An Ageing Devon

The Director of Public Health makes independent judgements about the state of the health of the local population. His annual report for this year focuses on healthy ageing. It describes the changing demographic profile of Devon over the next twenty years highlighting the benefits this can bring, but also predicts the future levels of illness and disability associated with an ageing population.

The data is clear that as we see a rise in the number of older adults in Devon over the coming years, we are going to see an increase in the number of people living with long-term conditions, disease and disability. Ultimately the scale of the challenge associated with an increase in older adults living in poor health will depend upon the actions taken now to increase our healthy life expectancy and compress the number of years spent in poor health.

The data also highlights a worrying decrease in the proportion of working age adults and older people which inevitably will have implications for health and care workforce as well as unpaid carers as we try and respond and support an increase in health and care need in Devon.

Civic Agreement between the Torbay, Plymouth and Devon Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Assembly and Devon County Council

Devon has had a long history of charitable activity and philanthropy, and the county has an innovative, creative and world renowned social enterprise sector. The levels of participation in volunteering and community work in Devon have always been amongst the highest in the UK and in time of both crisis and celebration, local communities have worked together to support and connect with each other.

In July 2024, the Torbay, Plymouth and Devon Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Assembly and Devon County Council committed to working together to respond to the opportunities and strategic economic, environmental and social challenges that we all face together in Devon. This will build on the shared history of good relations and collaboration.

‘We will work in partnership to improve the life chances of people in our communities. Our shared aim is to act upon the wider determinants of health to improve the prosperity, health and wellbeing of Devon’s residents’.

Centenary of the Devon Library Service

The Devon County Library Service was launched in 1924 with the aim of providing a single county-wide service giving all residents free access to books. Before then, many of Devon’s individual community libraries were operated by subscription, aligned to institutions such as the church, or funded by individual local authorities.

Devon County Council and Torbay Council commissions Libraries Unlimited to shape the libraries across Devon and Torbay, invest in core services and run programmes to enrich lives and build communities. Public libraries are not just a free source of knowledge, but welcoming community hubs of activity and information.

How do we perform?

Supporting sustainable economic recovery

The claimant count in Devon is significantly below regional and national averages and is amongst the lowest in our near neighbour group. The rate of apprenticeships is also above the national average with particularly high levels in East Devon and Exeter. Devon also compares favourably in terms of additions to dwelling stock. However, the rate of births of new enterprises is significantly below the national average.

Average full-time salaries are also significantly below regional and national averages and the lowest in our near neighbour group, having dropped in real terms over recent years. The proportion of workforce in knowledge intensive services is also significantly below regional and national averages which has an impact on salaries and graduate retention levels.

Tackling poverty and inequality

The gap in life expectancy between the most and least deprived communities for Devon is below those seen regionally and nationally and is the best in our near neighbour group. Rates of child poverty are also significantly below the national average in Devon, although substantial differences exist at a neighbourhood and district level. The proportion of the working age population with no qualifications is also significantly below regional and national averages and amongst the best in our near neighbour group.

However, excess mortality rates for adults with severe mental illness are significantly above the national average, highlighting inequalities for this cohort. Fuel poverty rates have also increased significantly over recent years and are particularly high in rurally deprived areas. Devon also experiences higher levels of homelessness, which are above national and regional averages, and amongst the worst in our near neighbour group with particular hotspots in Exeter and North Devon.

Improving health and wellbeing

Devon has a particularly high level of physically active adults, which is the best in our near neighbour group. Mortality rates from preventable causes of death are also significantly below regional, near neighbour group and national averages, and have dropped in recent years. Care home admissions are also below the national average and on a par with our near neighbour group average. However, mental health outcomes in Devon are typically poorer. The rate of admissions to hospital for

self-harm are significantly above the national and near neighbour group averages and are particularly high in Exeter and Torridge. The suicide rate is also above South West, near neighbour group and national averages, and has increased in recent years. The effectiveness of reablement services is also below South West and national averages, and is the lowest in our near neighbour group having dropped in recent years.

Helping communities be safe, connected and resilient

The rate of reported domestic violence incidents is below South West, near neighbour group and national averages. The proportion of persons walking or cycling for any purpose at least once a month is also above the national average. The percentage of local bus journeys taken by elderly and disabled passengers also highlights good access and usage compared to national and regional averages.

However, Devon has a higher proportion of non-principal roads where further maintenance should be considered compared to the national average. The number of persons killed or seriously injured per 10,000 population in road collisions is above the South West average, this indicator will be further developed to include adjustments for traffic volumes (as higher volumes can increase rates) with further benchmarking reflecting these differences.