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Bedford Central Beds Milton Keynes
Bedford JSNA
living & working well

The background

The purpose of the Living and Working Well Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) section is to support the work of the Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board by summarising key local needs, and services, and providing a series of evidence-based priorities to improve the health of the local working age population (aged 20-64). It acts as a useful reference to inform high quality and co-ordinated local commissioning and provision of services shaped to the needs of their users, as well as to inform the wider council and members of the public.1

It sets out the key needs and issues of the local population, and makes a series of evidence-based recommendations to improve health and wellbeing, and to reduce inequalities. Bedford Borough’s overall score for deprivation (using the 2025 Index of Multiple Deprivation) relative to all other local authorities in England, puts it in the 4th least deprived decile. Where possible, Bedford Borough is compared to local authorities of similar deprivation (e.g. Derbyshire, Essex, Milton Keynes, Suffolk, and Reading).2

Finding the information you need

Over time, this section will build to include further analysis of the factors that impact on the health of working age people and details of the policies, services and actions developed to address them. It will include:

  • A Dashboard featuring the latest data on major indicators of health and well-being including: smoking, drugs and alcohol, sexual health, mental health, healthy weight and physical activity, health checks and employment.

  • Wider determinants, which includes factors relating to: family, friends and communities, housing, transport, work and employment, money and resources, deprivation, the cost of living and climate change

  • Lifestyle, which examines health-related behaviours including: smoking, drugs and alcohol, healthy weight and physical activity

  • Health and well-being. This covers sexual health, oral health, workplace well-being, mental health and resilience and musculoskeletal condition

If you cannot find the information you are looking for, contact the Health Population Evidence and Intelligence team
[email protected]

References

  1. Department of Health. 2011. Joint strategic needs assessment and joint health and wellbeing strategies explained. Available at:
    https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/215261/dh_131733.pdf [Accessed 11 December 2020].

  2. English Indices of Deprivation 2025. [online] Available at:
    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/english-indices-of-deprivation-2025 [Accessed May December 2025].