Merton Council is calling on residents to participate in the consultation on Merton’s first ever Health and Wellbeing strategy.

Residents will have until Monday 3 December to let the board know what they think is important to Health and Wellbeing in Merton by visiting http://www.merton.gov.uk/consultations or requesting a copy of the draft strategy by emailing healthandwellbeingboard@merton.gov.uk.

The aim of the strategy is to tackle health inequalities as well as helping people improve their health. This will be achieved by identifying key priorities for improvement and agreeing what can be done to deliver them. It will also look at how services can collaborate to increase efficiency and improve the quality of services for local people.

A draft document has been put together by the Shadow Health and Wellbeing Board, which is a partnership of local councillors, Merton Council officers, Merton Clinical Commissioning Group and representatives of the health and voluntary sector.

Residents’ views on the draft strategy will be taken into account before the final strategy is published. The strategy is due to be released early 2013 with feedback on the findings of the consultation to be included in the Health and Wellbeing Board pages.

Merton’s cabinet member for adult social care and health, Councillor Linda Kirby said: “I hope as many residents as possible take the opportunity to voice their opinions on the draft Health and Wellbeing strategy as the purpose of this is to make services better for them. All feedback from residents is invaluable for this process.”

ENDS