Agenda item

The Joint Director of Public Health for South Tees will be in attendance to present the 2026 Director of Public Health Annual Report. 

The Public Health Consultant for South Tees attended the meeting to present the Director of Public Health Annual Report 2026 on behalf of the Joint Director of Public Health.

The Public Health Consultant explained that the report focused on prevention and highlighted ongoing challenges in population health, including significantly lower life expectancy and healthy life expectancy compared with national averages, as well as wide inequalities between communities. Members were informed that Middlesbrough ranked third highest in England for preventable deaths, with life expectancy gaps of up to 16 years for men and 13 years for women across South Tees. These inequalities were largely driven by deprivation and preventable risk factors such as smoking, obesity, alcohol misuse and physical inactivity.

Members noted that the report set out the four levels of prevention; primordial, primary, secondary and tertiary and emphasised the importance of investing earlier in the life course to prevent ill health and reduce future demand on health and care services. It was highlighted that prevention required action across the wider determinants of health, including housing, education, employment, income and the built environment, and could not be delivered by public health alone.

Members were advised that South Tees continued to experience some of the highest rates of preventable mortality nationally, with Middlesbrough ranked among the highest areas in England. The Public Health Consultant outlined how system‑wide partnership working, including collaboration between the NHS, local authorities, voluntary and community sector organisations and anchor institutions, was essential to addressing these issues and reducing health inequalities.

The Committee heard examples of preventative activity already underway, including:

•         targeted smoking cessation initiatives, including work to reduce smoking in pregnancy;

•         whole‑system approaches to healthy weight, such as Eat Well South Tees;

•         community‑based alcohol recovery and harm reduction services;

•         physical activity programmes aimed at children, families and communities; and

•         early detection initiatives, including cancer screening and community blood pressure testing.

A discussion took place regarding smoking prevalence. It was noted that in South Tees approximately 480 deaths each year were attributable to smoking‑related causes that were largely preventable. A Member raised concerns about this figure and asked whether it included vaping. The Public Health Consultant clarified that vaping was not included in the figures and advised that, while smoking prevalence was continuing to decline in Middlesbrough, significant progress was still required to achieve the Government’s ambition of reducing smoking prevalence to 5% by 2030.

The Panel also discussed the successes of the Tees Valley Lung Cancer Screening Programme. It was reported that 79,561 invitations had been issued, with an initial scan uptake rate of 67.7%. In addition, 2,697 patients had been referred to stop smoking services, and 360 lung cancers had been diagnosed, with 77% detected at stages 1 and 2. A Member congratulated the service and shared feedback from a personal contact, who had found the process to be quick and straightforward, with scans readily available and clear communication throughout, including text message updates.

The importance of working closely with communities and using lived experience to co‑design services was emphasised, alongside the role of research through the Health Determinants Research Collaboration in strengthening the local evidence base for prevention.

A Member queried how Public Health and the NHS had been working with specific communities. In response, the Public Health Consultant advised that this remained an ongoing area of development and outlined examples of successful engagement with minority communities. These included targeted maternity services for Black and Minority Ethnic groups, work with Inclusion Health groups, and liaison with Roma communities to support increased uptake of the MMR vaccination. It was emphasised that the approach focused on understanding community needs and co‑designing services accordingly.

The Panel noted that the report concluded with a series of recommendations, including the development of a South Tees Prevention Framework to embed prevention principles consistently across organisations and services, and to support a shared, system‑wide approach to improving health outcomes and reducing inequalities.

AGREED that the information provided by the Public Health Consultant be noted.