Pressures on Essex services unsustainable - report

The new report referenced the east and north neighbourhoods on Canvey Island as two of the "highest need" communities in England

The pressures on health and social care in Essex are unsustainable and services should be radically changed, a new report has said.

An independent commission - sponsored by Essex County Council - has published a 75-page dossier outlining how local government services could be improved in the county.

It says task forces should be set up to tackle inequalities within education and to increase the number of over-50s in employment.

Tom Abell, chief executive of the NHS Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB), said the report was a "wake-up call".

ICBs are in charge of planning and managing local health services and budgets.

"The pressures facing our health and social care services are real and growing, but by working together across communities, we have a real opportunity to shift from crisis response to prevention," said Mr Abell.

The report was launched by stakeholders including commission chairwoman Beverley Egan (second from left) and local NHS chief executive Tom Abell (far right)

The commission is made up of 11 individuals, representing the NHS, Salvation Army, political groups, universities and think thanks.

Conservative county councillor Beverley Egan is its chairwoman.

It has recommended 23 actions that should be implemented to improve people's lives, and suggests how they could be implemented by the new Greater Essex mayor.

Councils in Essex are due to be dismantled and replaced and the public are expected to vote for a Greater Essex mayor next year.

The recommendations by the Essex Caring Communities Commission include:

• An Essex retirement service, that would include setting up small groups of recently retired people to help them plan their future

• A "library of things", whereby the public could borrow items, not just books

• "School-ready task forces", aimed at halving the proportion of children who are not ready for school at age five, or not achieving expected standards at age 11

• A "volunteering Olympics", aimed at doubling the number of volunteering opportunities

• An Essex Communities Festival, celebrating local people and projects

• A 50-plus task force, aimed at doubling "over-50s participation in the local labour market"

The report said Essex was home to some of the most deprived areas in England, and levels of deprivation had doubled in the last 15 years.

It referenced its research with Oxford Consultants for Social Inclusion in 2021, which concluded that six out of 10 of the "highest need communities" in England, were in Essex.

Laindon Park in Basildon, Canvey Island East and Canvey Island North were the three "highest need" neighbourhoods.

Egan said: "We must be honest and recognise the current way of doing things is not sustainable.

"Reacting to cases, rather than preventing them in the first place, has become the norm."