At least one in four Hertfordshire residents will experience mental health problems at some point in their lives. Mosaic data suggests that up to 14% households are very likely to live with depression, 21% from stress and 9% on an ongoing regular basis.

Physical activity is essential for overall health and wellbeing. Whilst there have been improvements in adult activity and exercise, particularly in the past 5 years, there are still around 20.5% of the East Herts populations that classify themselves as inactive.

In East Hertfordshire, almost two thirds of adults are classed as obese. Whilst excess weight in children (reception) is 18.4% and excess weight in children (Year 6) is 23.9%. Therefore there is an ongoing priority to reduce the number of residents classified as obese.

Health challenges or bereavement can lead to or exacerbate social isolation. Equally for many younger people, challenges include unemployment, loneliness, not having someone to rely on and a lack of sense of belonging to their neighbourhood. Recent research notes that: “Feelings of loneliness are most strongly associated with poor mental health, but are also associated with long-term problems of stress, anxiety and depression. The risk associated with social isolation and loneliness is comparable with well-established risk factors for mortality (e.g. physical activity, obesity, substance abuse)

Dementia is an ongoing problem with the number of cases reported increasing year on year over the last 3 years with 4,402 identified cases across the North & East Herts Partnership trust. Hertfordshire figures show that 4.4% of those people registered with a GP practice over 65 years old have dementia. In Hertfordshire Social Care’s East and North Herts area, which includes the East Herts district, there are over 580, 000 people and 60 GP practices.