Vision: The North East will have the best preventive services. These and treatment services will be distributed fairly and geared to reducing inequalities in health and well-being. Individuals will receive the information and help needed to recognise health problems and act as early as possible.

• NHS North East will establish a Regional Advisory Group for Prevention, Fair and Early Treatment which will guide NHS change in pursuit of public health and well-being aims.
• We will set a regional target ahead of national action to ensure that all stroke sufferers can receive rapid, damage-limiting treatment, building on regional stroke services that are already among the best in the country.
• We will achieve rapid access to emergency treatment of stroke across the North East.
• We will achieve a level of regional preventive spend and allocation which is beyond national norms.
• We will establish the necessary education, training, and support to achieve the aim that every health service encounter should be a health-promoting encounter.
• We will undertake a sustained social marketing campaign to promote cancer awareness in the North East. This will focus upon those cancers for which there is evidence of poorer outcomes as a result of late presentation to health care services.
• We will undertake a sustained campaign to raise stroke awareness and develop public understanding of symptoms and appropriate responses.
• With the North East Cancer Registry we will develop an indicator of average stage at diagnosis of cancer for patients presenting in the North East and elsewhere, against which we can measure progress in improving early presentation.
• We will establish a measure both of regional preventive spend (in line with Health England recommendations) and of the cross-agency health and well-being revenue spend.
• We will establish regional targets for preventive spend and for overall spend on health and well-being across agencies in excess of proportional targets set nationally, reflecting the worse health of the region and the greater need for investment in preventative action.
• We will aim to establish agreed norms for the proportion of health care spend that should be devoted to programmes in each area of the region and publicise and report on these on an annual basis.

Potential areas of action for RAG consideration: Oral health and health services – Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – Sexual health – Podiatry – Eye tests – Psychosis – Carers