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STATEMENT TO BE MADE BY THE
ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES ON MONDAY 9th MARCH 2020
The Health and Wellbeing Framework
The release of the Health and Wellbeing Framework promotes for the first time principles of working across all Government departments, and sets out to ensure everything we do takes the health and wellbeing of Islanders into consideration when making decisions that affect our community.
Over the next two decades, the prevalence of serious disease and ill health is due to rise dramatically as our population ages and the number of people living on the Island likely increases. The framework focusses on methods to prevent illnesses by addressing the root cause of conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer and mental health conditions.
Myself and others, both inside and outside of government have been supporting the prevention agenda for some time, and highlighting the fact that we need to start thinking more about tackling those avoidable diseases that are associated with our lifestyle choices and often wider circumstances outside our control.
The framework commits to putting the prevention of ill-health and preventable disease higher on our agenda. This is among a range of measures designed to improve Islanders wellbeing and mental and physical health, one of five commitments set out in our Common Strategic Policy.
The framework is not only aligned to our other key priorities to meet the Common Strategic Policy, but to the new Jersey Care Model, which as I'm sure you're all aware, also promises a greater emphasis on prevention, more specifically within health services.
The work of the framework will be overseen by a Political Oversight Group (POG) including a number of Ministers from across Government who have been provided briefings on the framework and to whom I am extremely grateful to for their support. The POG also includes local stakeholders / lay people to ensure we're making a real difference and moving forward with the most important priorities.
The concept of Sustainable Wellbeing has now been included within the Public Finances Law and is at the heart of the recently approved Government Plan. The POG will provide the necessary oversight to ensure that we deliver the best outcomes for islanders based on all the factors that affect our quality of life be it economic, social, environmental or cultural.
Our work will be monitored and evaluated in line with the new Jersey Performance Framework, which for the first time sets out how progress towards improved outcomes for Islanders will be measured across government, in a consistent and transparent way.
There can be no doubt that prevention is more cost-effective than cure, and we must now pay more than just lip service to the prevention agenda. Not only we as Government but all States Members have a responsibility of stewardship, ensuring efforts to address the challenges we face in coming years are sustained, based on need, and make a difference. This first Health and Wellbeing Framework for Jersey provides the foundations for a collaborative, long-term approach to moving forward into action across the CSP priorities, which will not just improve quality of life and health and wellbeing outcomes of Islanders, but look to reduce inequalities within our community.
I hope I will get your support and of members in ensuring that this work is expediated and given high priority as it progresses. Working together in partnership to drive sustainable wellbeing and addressing health inequalities is not a nice to have', or a good thing to say we will do, but rather an urgent priority. It requires all of us to take bold action now to not only improve the lives of future generations but also that of our current community.