Annual Public Health Report focuses on Mental Health impact of Covid-19

Suffolk County Council has today endorsed far-reaching recommendations to improve Suffolk people’s mental health and wellbeing.
Published: 02 Dec 2021

This includes the creation of a dedicated fund of £2.5m and the development of a cross-system group to support community wellbeing in Suffolk.

Each year, the Director of Public Health in Suffolk produces an independent report, which explores a topic or area of strategic focus that is of importance to Suffolk. This year’s report titled “Better, together: Public Mental Health in Suffolk”, focuses on the actions that need to be taken to support and enable good mental health and wellbeing in the community, following the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The strains of the Covid-19 pandemic have meant that the issue of mental health has been in the public consciousness like never before. The unprecedented measures required to reduce the spread of the virus, have placed extraordinary pressures, and demands on the whole population, with around 1 in 5 adults in Britain experiencing some form of depression in the first three months of 2021 – more than double the figure prior to the pandemic. Almost half of adults have reported that their emotional and mental wellbeing has been affected.

The report highlights that those impacts may be as damaging and long-lasting as the physical effects of the virus. It focuses on actions which can be taken by communities, public and private sector organisations to try and mitigate these effects and protect and promote good public mental health in Suffolk now and for the future.

Stuart Keeble, Director of Public Health, said:

Every single person in Suffolk has had their life disrupted to some degree by the Covid-19 pandemic, and while the vaccines are currently doing a good job of protecting the majority of us from serious illness, the longer-term impacts on mental health and emotional wellbeing continue to evolve.It is important to remember and honour what has occurred – both the terrible losses, and the extraordinary individual and collective acts of courage and kindness made by so many to protect and support others.Communities, workplaces, and public sector organisations must come together to create places and environments which support mental and emotional wellbeing across the whole of Suffolk.

The report makes six recommendations, which have today been endorsed by Suffolk County Council. Among the recommendations is the development of a cross system group focused on public mental health, which will report into the Health and Wellbeing Board, and a dedicated Suffolk Public Mental Health Fund to support good public mental health in Suffolk communities.

The £2.5m funding, comes from the Government’s Contain Outbreak Management Fund (COMF), in recognition of the need to support Public Mental Health, which in turn both supports behaviours which continue to reduce the spread of the virus as well as supporting longer term recovery. The Health and Wellbeing Board will oversee this and will be discussing principles for how to deliver the recommendations at its next meeting in January.

Councillor Matthew Hicks, Leader of Suffolk County Council and Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board, said:

It is clear that the time to focus on improving public mental health is now.Mental wellbeing continues to be a priority for the Health and Wellbeing Board, and the County Council, as we recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.Keeping mentally well is not only vital for individuals and families, but also for communities and the economy. The people of Suffolk stand the strongest chance of getting Better, Together.

The 2021 Annual Public Health Report for Suffolk, ‘Better, Together: Public Mental Health in Suffolk’ can be viewed online here.