"The Government believes that we need action to promote public health, and encourage behaviour change to help people live healthier lives. We need an ambitious strategy to prevent ill-health which harnesses innovative techniques to help people take responsibility for their own health."

The Coalition: our programme for government

GovToday presents Healthy Communities 2010 - Creating A People-Centred Service Conference and Exhibition, which will be held at Church House Conference Centre on 7th October 2010.

The Healthy Communities agenda was created through the former Government's aim to devolve power to neighbourhoods and create a people-centred health service. Begun in November 2004, with publication of the White Paper 'Choosing Health: Making healthy Choices Easier', this Strategy was developed further in January 2006, with the White Paper 'Our Health, Our Care, Our Say'. Both these documents highlighted the move towards "fitting services round people, not people round services".

From the Darzi Review of the NHS 'High Quality Care for All' begun in 2007, to the current strategy outlined by the former Secretary of State for Health, Andy Burnham MP on 10th December 2009, 'NHS 2010-2015: from good to great. Preventative, people-centred, productive' this focus on the provision of personalised care delivered at a local level has remained at the forefront of the Government's health strategy.

In achieving this new agenda, the former Government emphasised: an enhanced role for local authorities; shifting resources into prevention and the seamless integration of health and social care provision to meet local community needs; and better and more innovative ways of joining up services at a local level.

Healthy Communities 2010 - Creating A People-Centred Service Conference and Exhibition will examine this strategy going forward, highlighting the ongoing challenge to create a local approach to health improvement by:

• Tackling local health inequalities;
• Providing leadership to promote well being; and
• Fostering a joined-up approach to health improvement across local government, through a partnership process.

Healthy Communities 2010 - Creating A People-Centred Service Conference and Exhibition will review the progress on this agenda, revealing the lessons learnt and outlining the challenges for the future, with a focus on policy, delivery and the productivity of health services.