Residents speak out about e-cigarettes, care for the elderly

and winter road maintenance in the 39th Viewpoint

newsletter

Health and well-being, ageing well in Aberdeenshire, winter maintenance and public conveniences were amongst topics put to the test in the most recent Citizens’ Panel survey, circulated in November 2014.

The Citizens’ Panel, which consists of a broad spectrum of 1,276 residents from across Aberdeenshire, aims to gauge public opinion on a variety of community-related services as delivered by member organisations of the Aberdeenshire Community Planning Partnership (CPP).

The results of the survey are passed onto the relevant council section or external partner for them to consider as part of their on-going work and are collated in the Viewpoint newsletter, which has been distributed to panel members this week.

Under the Health and Well-being section, residents were asked questions on mental health, tobacco use, smoke-free grounds and e-cigarettes.

The overall proportion of panel members who smoke has risen very slightly by 1% between 2012-2014 to 9% but over half (5%) said they would like to give up.

Residents expressed great support (76%) for NHS Grampian’s Smoke-Free Grounds Policy and 97% were in favour of the policy being extended to include school grounds, a result of changing cultural attitudes towards tobacco in Scotland.

In line with this, of the existing smokers within the panel, 38% had used e-cigarettes to help them quit, but despite the positive outcomes of e-cigarettes, 80% of panel respondents felt that purchase by under 18s should be banned and a similar percentage felt they should not be used indoors.

Coinciding with the Integration of Health and Social Care by Aberdeenshire Council, NHS Grampian and the local voluntary sector, respondents were asked for their opinion on ageing well in Aberdeenshire.

The majority of respondents (70%) considered prevention and early intervention to be the best strategy to avoid elderly people requiring health and care services and 97% agreed that an active lifestyle throughout old age was important for quality of life and well-being.

This confirms the value of recent investment in the development of walking groups and supporting the development of supporting networks within communities.

Only 21% felt there was a joined up approach to the provision of health and social care but setting this right is at the heart of Aberdeenshire Council’s planning and staff from social care, health and third sector meet regularly in each area of Aberdeenshire to decide how integrated services will look.

Leader of Aberdeenshire Council, Cllr Jim Gifford, said: “It is great to see the support from residents for new health initiatives such as the Smoke-Free Grounds Policy and the Integration of Health and Social Care.

“The Citizen’s Panel surveys continue to be a key aspect in gauging public opinion on a wide range of services in Aberdeenshire, which helps us to adapt the delivery if necessary and plan for the future.”

High levels of positive responses were received for the topic of winter maintenance, with almost 70% of respondents expressing their satisfaction with the service in Aberdeenshire.

When considering issues which might improve the service provided, 76% felt treating the roads more quickly would be of benefit and there is increasing interest in community involvement in winter maintenance.

Given the 3380 miles of carriageways which Aberdeenshire Council is responsible for, it is admitted that the expectation to see roads treated more quickly will be challenging.

There is, however, a priority system in place that sees Aberdeenshire’s A roads and other busy commuter roads treated first.

The Roads Service is encouraged by the apparent self-resilience of panel members and public appetite to assist, an option which will be further explored.

The final topic explored by the survey was public conveniences, with many panellists happy with the provision, quality and cleanliness of the toilets.

Looking ahead to future service provision saw 88% of respondents considering the most suitable option was to include public conveniences within new council or partner buildings but support was also shown for non-council owned properties, such as leisure centres and restaurants to open their doors to become ‘Comfort Partnerships’, which are recognised as a more cost effective way of providing public conveniences.

The 39th Viewpoint newsletter is available on the Aberdeenshire Community Planning Partnership website at: http://www.ouraberdeenshire.org.uk/