In a glittering ceremony honouring the brightest and best in local government at the Park Plaza in London, London Borough of Haringey came out on top in the hotly contested Reducing Health Inequalities category for its Gambling Harms Reduction Programme.
Highly commended awards were also presented by host, actor and writer Sally Phillips, to Hackney Council for its foetal alcohol spectrum disorder support initiative and to Houslow Council's Health Outreach Team.
Accepting Haringey's award, Cllr Lucia das Neves, cabinet member for health, social care and wellbeing, said: ‘We are delighted to see the gambling harms programme be recognised in the Reducing Health Inequalities category.
‘We have seen the harm gambling can have on residents and we are proud to work with partners, people with lived experience and our healthcare system colleagues to create new ways to tackle the harms done. We will continue to be innovators and leaders in this space and in tackling health inequalities in our borough.'
Haringey is the fourth most deprived borough in London. It is a borough of two halves, with deprivation concentrated in the east where gambling premises are focused. Fifty eight are in this part of the borough compared with seven in the more affluent west. One in seven borough-wide are affected by gambling harms.
The London borough has the 13th highest concentration of gambling premises relative to population out of 330 local authorities with gambling premises averaging 24 per 100,000 residents (well above the national average of 16) and the third highest in London.
Haringey's Gambling Harms Reduction Programme aims to reduce gambling-related health inequalities by using a Health in All Policies Approach.
This whole-system approach considers wider health determinants and co-production with residents. With 8,000 Haringey residents experiencing gambling-related harms and over 25,000 affected others, the team identified gaps in support and treatment access within the criminal justice system and
primary care.
Having listened to those with lived experience, they began addressing these barriers to improve access to identification, assessment, treatment and management for those affected.
Specialist training attracted Local Met Police and Criminal Justice staff for the first time with primary healthcare teams accessing specific training to improve patient care and data management.
The team's efforts to enhance existing tools are underway to ensure children and young people are supported and do not fall through the gaps in education, social and Early Help services.
Haringey Council is also the first local authority in the UK to join the Coalition to End Gambling Ads, showing it is serious about tackling excessive gambling advertising that negatively impacts residents.
Congratulations to all the team for being the worthy winner of this year's prize.
