The Chair of Calderdale Health and Wellbeing Board, Cllr Tim Swift, is thanking all health and care staff across the borough, as they continue to work around the clock to look after people with winter viruses.
This comes after the pressures of an early flu season and a high level of illness were discussed at the Health and Wellbeing Board’s meeting on Thursday 11 December 2025.
Local leaders on the Board, including from Calderdale Council, the NHS, the voluntary and community sector and clinical and community service providers, considered the significant impact of winter on health and care services.
Cllr Tim Swift, Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board and Cabinet Member for Public Health at Calderdale Council, said:
“Thank you to all the staff working in health and care roles across Calderdale. I know this is a very tough time for you all. Doctors’ surgeries and hospitals are unbelievably busy as they continue to deal with significantly high numbers of flu and other winter virus cases.
“Staff are pulling out all the stops to look after people and keep the health and care system going. Organisations from Calderdale’s Health and Wellbeing Board have prepared for winter sooner than ever before, and stand ready to deal with an extremely challenging few weeks ahead, with cases rising throughout the country. We will continue to make sure people have a range of ways to get the help they need.
“We can all play our part by getting our flu vaccine – it’s not too late and can still provide protection against serious illness. We know it’s the season of festivities and meet-ups, but if you don’t feel well and you have flu-like symptoms, please be kind and think about whether you can postpone visits, especially if you’re seeing people with underlying health conditions who might be more vulnerable to the virus.”
Calderdale Health and Wellbeing Board works as a partnership to achieve the borough’s Wellbeing Strategy. The theme of the meeting on Thursday 11 December was ‘living and working well’ – this is the Strategy’s aim for working-age people to have good emotional health and wellbeing and fewer suicides.
As well as the impact of winter on health and care, the meeting covered the following topics:
- Suicide rates in Calderdale – rates have reduced from 17.5 per 100,000 people in 2021-2023 to 16.3 per 100,000 people in 2022-2024. This is still significantly above England’s average rate of 10.9 per 100,000 people. Board members discussed the continuing work on suicide prevention, including healthy working lives and a focus on economically inactive young people and the impact of this on their emotional health and wellbeing.
- An annual update on the work of the Calderdale Health Protection Partnership to manage and respond to health protection risks – actions include overseeing the vaccination programme in Calderdale, adult screening programmes, enforcement of food safety laws by Environmental Health, and preventing the spread of infections.
- Annual reports on safeguarding and domestic abuse. A 3.6% decrease in the number of domestic abuse incidents recorded in Calderdale was reported. Board members were updated on the two-year pilot project to deliver therapeutic support to children and young people, with a focus on helping those in safe accommodation.
For information about flu and its symptoms, visit www.nhs.uk/conditions/flu(external link)