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The purpose of this paper is to provide an update on the progress of the Campaign to End Loneliness, and aims to illustrate how commissioners can be influenced to address loneliness in their localities.

The paper is a case study that draws upon an external evaluation of the Campaign to End Loneliness by Charities Evaluation Services, a review of local government strategies and case studies of good practice.

This paper focuses on the design, implementation and progress of Loneliness Harms Health, a series of local campaigns targeting health and wellbeing boards. It provides a case study of how evidence-based campaigning influenced newly formed health and wellbeing boards to address loneliness in their localities, and identifies implications for commissioner and provider practice.

This paper demonstrates how to successfully influence commissioning practice using a “pincer” movement of local campaigning, top-down advice and information. It highlights examples of good practice uncovered by the Campaign over the past 18 months including measurement of, and partnership working around, the issue of loneliness in older age. Three recommendations are made for local service providers and commissioners wishing to address loneliness: it should be linked to other priorities, cross-agency partnerships are vital and asset-based approaches can save money. It concludes with information about the future of the Campaign to End Loneliness and information on how to get involved.

This paper provides a detailed analysis of an innovative, policy-based, campaigning strategy to influence commissioning and practice around the issue of loneliness in older age. It is an issue which can be easily overlooked by care, public health and NHS professionals, but early results indicate the newly formed health and wellbeing boards can play a significant role in addressing it.

The purpose of the paper is to provide an overview of issues being faced, and likely to have to be faced, in establishing effective health and wellbeing boards.

The paper is based the perspective of the Department of Health's lead for implementation of these boards. Set in the context of national policy expectation, it draws on the early experiences of board development all over the country; and on discussions and seminars held to test their practical implications.

Transformation of the current pattern of services is needed to meet the preferred needs of the public. This is a major challenge at local level, and the leadership capacity and style of the new boards, and their communication skill, will be vital to the creation of responsive integrated services.

The paper draws together current thinking on a key policy initiative of the current government, and links it directly to integrated health and social care.

This paper seeks to provide a critique on the overall readiness of joint strategic needs assessment (JSNA) to respond to the new roles and functions proposed by the Health and Social Care Bill 2011.

Commentary informed by a national survey of Directors of Public Health in early 2011, a 2010 regional survey of JSNA leads in the South East, and other thematic and case study research exercises commissioned by or associated with the 2009‐2011 DH JSNA Development Programme.

Despite significant progress in the quality of JSNA 2008‐2010, raised expectations pose a serious challenge. It is possible to identify a number of key issues that must be directly addressed if the process is to fulfil the new expectations. The paper concludes with a call to action for members of health and wellbeing boards to audit the quality of their existing JSNA around these main challenges.

A new perspective on JSNA in light of new policy changes, combining existing research, unpublished research (as of August 2011) and the authors' experience leading national JSNA policy and improvement at the Department of Health.