Portsmouth is known as the great waterfront city and is home to 250,000 residents. It's vibrant and historic and has a strong growing economy and high quality health and care services.
Despite this, health and wellbeing outcomes are not as good for some of our residents as they could be. Portsmouth is ranked 114th out of 149 areas in England for the ONS Health Index - a single health indicator that reflects the multi-faceted determinants of the population's health. In 2018, the city achieved an overall score of 96.6 with values below 100 indicating worse health than in England in 2015. The city's realtive position has also worsened in the years since, with the COVID-19 pandemic having a huge impact on health inequalities in the city.
Portsmouth is not an outlier in term of its overall score. It sits within a pattern in which more deprived areas have less healthy populations, which is why the city's Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2022-2030 looks at the underlying factors which in turn influence health and wellbeing. These are: poverty; educational attainment; positive relationships; active travel and air quality; and housing.
As reflected in the 2040 vision for Portsmouth, "we want Portsmouth to be a healthy and happy city, in which each person has the education, care and support they need for their physical and mental health".
To tackle these challenges, we work collectively through Health and Care Portsmouth, across NHS organisations, Portsmouth City Council and voluntary organisations, and have been working like this for a number of years.
Portsmouth's services include:
- Adult social care services and children's services provided by Portsmouth City Council.
- Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust is one of the largest acute hospital trusts in the country, treating over half a million patients each year. The Trust provides comprehensive secondary care and specialist services to people across South East Hampshire. Most of its services are provided at Queen Alexandra Hospital, in Cosham, but it also offers a range of outpatient and diagnostic facilities closer to patients’ homes in community hospital sites and at local treatment centres such as St Mary’s Hospital, Gosport War Memorial Hospital and Petersfield Community Hospital.
- Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust provides adult mental health services and services at the Petersfield Urgent Treatment Centre.
- Solent NHS Trust provides community and children’s mental health services across Hampshire and Isle of Wight.
- Mental health services including:
- The Harbour - weekend and evening crisis mental health peer support service for anyone aged 18+ who needs short term support in times of great difficulty or is struggling with poor mental health
- PositiveMinds - emotional support service for anyone aged 18+ suffering with low mood or anxiety, feeling helpless or overwhelmed
- Talking Change - a team of mental health therapists and researchers that offer free and confidential advice through talking therapies to help you cope and feel better. For anyone aged 16+
- If you, or someone you care for, is under 18 and experiencing emotional, behavioural and/or mental health difficulties, you can be referred to Portsmouth's Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). This is a comprehensive mental health service for children and young people (aged 0-18) promoting good mental health and physical wellbeing. You can be referred to this service by your GP, school, health visitor or social worker. Portsmouth's new social and emotional mental health guidance might also help.
- 12 GP practices in Portsmouth which work together in larger groups of five Primary Care Networks (PCNs)
- Portsmouth Wellbeing Service to support residents to quit smoking, drink less alcohol and achieve a healthy weight through eating well and moving more.
- Supporting people experiencing problems with their drug and alcohol substance use at The Society of St James' Recovery Hub
- Sexual health services at St. Mary's Health Campus which offers free STI test kits, Chlamydia test kits, condoms, and advice and support for positive diagnoses, medication and contraception.
- Suicide bereavement support service, Amparo, to provide practical and emotional support after bereavement.
- HIVE Portsmouth - a charity bringing people and organisations together from across Portsmouth, working together to improve the health and wellbeing of residents.
Our vision is for everyone in Portsmouth to be enabled to live healthy, safe and independent lives, with care and support that is integrated around the needs of the individual at the right time and in the right setting. We do things because they matter to local people, we know that they work, and we know that they will make a measurable difference to their lives.