The Richmond Story is a snapshot of the local needs identified through the joint strategic needs assessment (JSNA) process and informs commissioning intentions. The Richmond Story and the accompanying scorecard of indicators can be viewed or downloaded here.

A few highlights from the Richmond Story are included below.

What does this mean for Richmond?

Overall, Richmond is healthy, safe and rich in assets, but areas where we can improve include:

Maximising prevention opportunities

  • Despite favourable comparison with London and England, estimated numbers of people in Richmond with unhealthy lifestyles are substantial:
  • An estimated 17,000 (11%) adults in Richmond smoke.
  • Approximately 3,300 primary school age children and almost half of adults (approximately 65,000) are estimated to be obese or overweight. 25,000 adults are estimated to do less than 30 minutes of physical activity a week and fewer than half (43%) of residents achieve the standard of 5 portions of fruit and vegetables per day.
  • Richmond has higher than average estimated proportions of increasing-risk (21.3%) and higher-risk (7.8%) drinkers compared to England. In addition, alcohol-specific mortality is higher than the London average and the rate of hospital admissions due to substance abuse in those aged 15-24 years is 5th highest in London.
  • National prevalence models suggest that there are large numbers of people with undiagnosed long term conditions in Richmond (e.g. 2,700 people with undiagnosed coronary heart disease, and 4,850 people with undiagnosed diabetes).

Reducing health inequalities

  • Life expectancy is about 5 years lower for men and 4 years lower for women in the most deprived than in the least deprived area.
  • An estimated 3,140 (8.8%) children in Richmond are living in poverty.
  • Of those aged 16-18 years, 4.5% are not in education, employment or training.
  • Only 8.2% of working age adults receiving mental health services in Richmond are in paid employment.
  • 451 adults with learning disabilities are known to general practice.

Minimising harms and threats to health

  • Approximately 15,800 provide some level of unpaid care and 15% of those provide more than 50 hours unpaid care per week.
  • In 2013/14, there were 107 hospital admissions as a result of self-harm in those aged 10-24 years, the highest rate in London, and on average around 12 Richmond residents commit suicide per year.
  • Richmond has the highest proportion of people aged over 75 and living alone in London (51% in Richmond vs. 35% for London).
  • In Richmond, over 40% of acute sexually transmitted infection (STI) diagnoses are among those aged 15-24. STI rates have remained relatively stable over recent years in Richmond, but there have been increases in herpes and gonorrhoea.

Planning for increasing numbers of people with multiple long term conditions and promoting independence

  • Nearly one in three people registered with a GP in Richmond has one or more long-term condition and nearly one in ten has three or more.
  • Almost 32,000 of the GP registered population have a heart condition and there are 5,840 patients with diabetes.
  • Around 1,700 people are estimated to have some form of severe mental illness and there are about 2,000 people recorded to be in contact with specialist mental health services. An estimated 22,000 people in Richmond have a less severe, common mental disorder (such as depression and anxiety) and there 6,164 adults identified with depression by GPs.
  • Delayed transfers of care (DTOC) from hospital are an important measure of the quality of the interface between health and social care services. The rates of DTOC (8.1 per 100,000) and, in particular, those which are attributable to social care (2.3 per 100,000) are high compared to similar boroughs.
  • There are 1,780 people recorded as having multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease or epilepsy and it is estimated that 2,072 Richmond residents have dementia.