Components of joint health and wellbeing strategies: a pan-London review of all 33 local authorities

Background

In the UK, Health and Wellbeing Strategies (JHWS) were introduced to identify and help address the health needs of local communities. JHWS translate a borough’s Joint Strategic Needs assessment into actionable outcomes and prioritises areas of focus, but the content and approach of JHWS may vary across different local authorities (LAs) due to demographic and priority differences.

Objective

Characterise the key health and wellbeing components of existing and emerging health and wellbeing strategies of 33 local authorities in London.

Design

Scoping review study with content assessment.

Methods

An online search was conducted to identify JHWS documents. This search was supplemented with outreach to health and wellbeing boards to ensure that the latest documents were retrieved. A set of 62 health and wellbeing themes and words to be captured spanning 13 categories was developed by a team of researchers, and data collection was independently carried out by two researchers. Occurrences of words in the strategy documents were recorded, and a configuration matrix was created and used to determine data trends across the local authorities. A broad search of the context in which the search terms appeared was also performed to understand the trends.

Results

Thirty-three JHWS were analysed to identify key search term frequencies. The analysis encompassed strategies from 2015 to 2030, ranging from 7 to 94 pages. Mental health and youth terms emerged as the two top priorities across all strategies. Other frequent terms were related to access to healthcare, inequality, employment, smoking, housing, carers, and elderly individuals. Conversely, terms related to dental health, pollution, nutrition, sexual health, green spaces, breastfeeding, and climate were less cited.

Conclusion

This analysis provides insights into regional health priorities and a comprehensive overview of health and wellbeing strategies across London's local authorities. Despite certain limitations, the findings offer valuable insights for local authorities' strategic planning and future research.