Mental Health and Wellbeing

Everyone, more or less, have been affected by the pandemic. I would like to know how are you going to determine who are the most affected?

I support the mission. Mental health especially important as a lot of the time it is only at emergency stage that it is identified. More opportunity locally to help such as :

doctors surgeries libraries!  council offices underused  could be spaces where people can meet for "wellbeing" activities such as breathing classes gentle movement to music yoga and meditation.

Those most affected are not likely to use this platform so I do hope that options ways of getting views will be sought.

Pandemic and wellbeing! Those whose living conditions are not conducive to good mental health will have been sorely affected by having to stay in the one place that is not or does not feel safe. 

Local authorities will talk about support for those with poor mental health but do not deliver or even worse they treat those with mental health issues in such a way that they are part of the problem. If it is the local authorities responsibility to deal with housing issues and they do nothing, then they are highly unlikely to offer support. 

On a personal level, I am denied the support I need because the local authority has not dealt with a housing issue they have said they will! 

Local authorities need to be held to account, at present they ignore residents and waste money on schemes of no benefit to residents or close resources that are sorely needed.

I guess you will know the mission has had an impact when people can turn to their local authority and get the support they need, when local authorities do what they say they will do, and when people do not feel trapped by an inactive local authority, when local authorities stop blaming central government for all their ills and start to take ownership of their finances.

Any strategy must a) be led by the facts as they become known, b) shared with the public and misinformation countered, and c) cover everyone's health issues, not just Covid 19.  Of course the vulnerable (of which I am one) should be protected, but thier needs should be on an equal footing with other serious needs, such as potentially terminal illnesses.

All health services - NHS, GPs, and residential care - must be adequately funded.  GP services have suffered but have not had the same attention as care homes and hospitals.  GPs are the front line for care in the community, yet are unable to function properly - regular tests such as blood pressure, heart conditions, and asthma, have gone by the board. I suffer from more than five medical conditions but have only spoken to my GP over the telephone for the past five months.  GPs' powers (e.g. of referral and prescription) have been undermined and the importance of their role in prevention and treatment on all health issues is undervalued.

Mental health has been a poor relation for far too long, and prolonged lockdown for many people will not have helped.  Again, it comes back to adequate funding, as well as a recognition of the different needs in different cohorts or communities.

Obesity and smoking should not be lumped together.  Their relationship to Covid may well be different.  Although smoking becomes addictive, there is an element of choice initially, wheras obesity has many causes and is not always a matter of choice for the overweight but is a lifelong, and often losing battle.  Neither condition should be made the subject of blame or shame.

What has been lacking so far is leadership, coherence, common sense, and co-ordination.  If London can take the lead on these matters, it will be a better place to live.

Sweden is still 5th worse in Europe, UK 2nd worse, for deaths from Covid-19 per head of population. But has far fewer people, about 25, per Km squared than UK, about 275. Sweden's outcomes are also more nuanced than you suggest: see, e.g. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53664354

The basic question you need to answer is this. Has the British government done enough combatting the virus to give people the confidence to return to work in sufficient numbers to get the economy moving again? My answer and the fact that we're shaping up to have the worst recession in Europe backs it up, would be NO.

And even if you do you're faced with a second problem  When people resume work, where there are still jobs, they must produce products and services that other countries also hit by or recovering from Covid will want to or can purchase. 

I'm saying that the British government has a major role to play creating jobs and the best way it can do that is not Johnson's half-baked new deal where he spends a pittance compared to FDR. But a real Green New Deal. Retrofitting every home & business across the land with insulation and solar panels. Greening all our transport. Not building more and more roads. We move towards meeting our climate commitments, people/businesses save on fuel bills and people across the country have decent jobs and pay taxes. And we might have a world fit for our grandchildren. What's not to like?

No one left any school in this country, in the last 50 years, having learned that time is more precious than money. Now that this shift in priorities has been forced upon us, there are a lot of casualties who just can't think outside of the old box. A lot of people living in London, came here specifically to earn their fortune and retire to the countryside where there would be more space. I'm witnessing an exodus of people no longer prepared to put up with over-priced poor housing with barely enough space for a closet, let alone space to 'work from home' in.

The problems we're about to face in London are multi-faceted as successive Govts have neglected to invest in the mental & physical health, education and the environment of the people they rely on to pay taxes. But those are the keys - invest in education and put the environment above profit, and mental & physical health will look after themselves. So no Silvertown. No HS2. No more student loans - bring back grants, just like the ones current MPs enjoyed in their day.

I agree with the principles laid out.

Green spaces need to be protected and expanded, bringing greenery into all urban planning.

I'd also like to see much more done to reduce traffic and noise pollution, so being stuck indoors is at least a calmer experience! 

An issue not much discussed is the impact on mental well being and attitude of people effectivly excluded from society for five months. Unable to attend functions, enterainments, social contacts and all the normal contact of life for five months. One feels excluded, depressed and anxious.  What can be done?

Abandon the Silverton tunnel, reduce the sky high fares on public transport, the most expensive in Europe!!! E scooters and cycles to be banned from the pavement. Harsher penalties for car drivers who openly flout the rules re parking, speeding etc. Better planning scrutiny with regards to social housing and private property extensions. Need I say more.

Current Government/media "leaks" need to move away from unhelpful blanket threats. In March it was lockdown for all over-70s. Now we hear of suggestions to send all over-50s into lockdown if case numbers rise, and/or all those obese. [Not for the benefit of those concerned, obviously - confining someone with weight issues to the house would ensure little exercise but handy access to the fridge!] 

What we have as communities gained over this summer is an increased sende of neighbourliness and kindness; people have looked out for each other. We have a national government keen to find scapegoats - young people, minority communities, care homes.... while THEY carry on ignoring the "guidance" they have issued to US. Faced with financial hard times ahead, fairness will be more important than ever. Nobody's mental health is supported by a sense of being victimised. 

A multi pronged approach is needed (as well as a change of Government). 

Vulnerable people should be supported to continue shielding if their health is at high risk.

There is an over emphasis on cycling while walking is practically ignored, change crossings to give greater priority to those on foot and longer crossing times so the less mobile can cross safely, look at sensible routes people will take .e.g. short cuts and put paths in place to accommodate them, pedestrians must always have priority. 

the lockdown has shown how much more pleasant the air is with less planes and cars and this should be encouraged by measures such as topping expansion of City Airport once and for all and the ULEZ whilst looking at sensible scrappage schemes for more of those living within the North/South Circulars.

Bring NHS back into full public control and stop contracting out of any public services to profit making organisations.

Increase the supply of social housing and stop the proposed changes to planning.. 

I strongly support this initiative and the mission statements are excellent.

Improved mental health and wellbeing support is undoubtedly vitally critical, in particular, as equally is better research and support for the BAME communities who have been severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, but the other shielding and elderly groups must not be neglected either.

Combating pollution is essential I have asthma and my health deteriorated when I moved to Fulham partly prob to air traffic,

There needs to be better support for organisations like Open Age which provide activities that help improve the physical and mental health of over 6os. They have developed ways of delivering excellent classes via zoom and utube for those of us self isolating.

More advice, ideas and encoragement re healthy eating and forms of excercise needs to be offered in classes to all ages to help not just people who are obese. Many need this and stigmatising of obesity is not helpful. More psychological understanding of the roots of all eating disorders needs to be disseminated to all people. 

The content of the food parcels was nutritionally dreadful. 

Health: A war on obesity? Cycling, walking etc are obviously positive moves. Scooting, maybe, but not electric bikes & electric scooters until these are regulated and controlled! Maverick e-scooterists are the new scourge of pedestrians, just as psyco-lists on the towpaths were (& still are).

Meanwhile, many leisure centres remain closed. Others have opened gyms but not swimming pools. Rumours abound that some swimming pools will never open again, and the staff made redundant. This is government doubletalk in the extreme. £500m earmarked to subsidise the restaurant industry (much of which fuels obesity), whilst nothing is offered to 'leisure' pursuits such as swimming.

Swimming is one of the best excercises there is, involving all the muscles of the body while supporting the weight against gravity. It is ideal for older people whose joints are becoming weak, and overweight people whose muscles have trouble supporting them.

A rescue package is needed urgently to prevent the closing of such facilities for merely financial reasons.

I think all of the above are correct. Nevertheless there's one issue that concerns all of us. That's having healthy eating habits, that will make it easier to tackle mental health problems and health in general. Most of Londoners are used to eating out, have ready made meals, take away or eating meals really quick. Eating out is good but not every single meal. There's lots of salt, sugar, preservatives in all those kind of meals that make our health poor for the body to fight any kind of viruses or bacterias. "What we eat is who we are"

improving young teens mental health is really important we have young kids age 18 and under carrying knifes around for protection. during this whole pandemic those who feared to go outside have felt much more safer indoors and i know a lot of people at home who feel unsafe because of abuse. My best friends younger cousin who was just 15 has commitied suicide due to being bullied online and in school. Young teens mental health is a priority we must understand what they are going through and help them out as much as possible too many people are losing their lifes due to gang fights, knife crimes or suicide. We must improve their mentel health and make them understand what they are thinking about or what thry are planing to do. 

Improving Mental health is a priority need in Islington. We need to preserve the green spaces we have and create more at every opportunity - and not just bits of car parking space and compromised open space around new tower blocks. We need to tackle noise, particularly noisy fast motorbikes to provide calm surroundings for young people. 

The critical thing missing from the mission is tackling traffic pollution and the other effects of traffic that damage people's physical and mental health (such as noise, community severance, direct injury, fear, reduction in mobility and isolation, and consequent increases in obesity and related diseases). Thousands of lives per year are lost due to these causes every year. Also there is a clear link between high pollution and high incidence of COVID. There is no other one area where such a large health impact could be made with simple, proven measures.

Some progress is being made by the mayor to tackle these issues, such as the ULEZ, and implementation of a few cycling schemes, but these go no-where near far enough. The ULEZ needs to cover the whole of London, and all London's main roads need safe facilities for cycling, scooting, use of mobility scooters and powered wheelchairs, etc. Junctions need to be re-modelled to make them easy and rapid to cross on foot and safe to cycle through. All residential areas need to be covered by Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and it needs to be made safe for all children to walk and cycle to school. The elderly and disabled need to be enabled to use active methods of travel so far as possible by removing the domination of streets by motor traffic. Parking space on roads needs to be extensively rededicated to active travel space and greening the city. 

Many leading cities around the world have already extensively implemented the measures needed: look at Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Paris, Berlin, Barcelona etc. There is nothing new that needs to be discovered on this, just political will and a driven implementation.

Further, I would recommend abandonment of the Silvertown Tunnel project, which will only create more traffic and pollution, instead spending the money on the measures above to enable active travel.