Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 8 July 2021 were taken as read, confirmed and signed.

There were no urgent items for consideration.

The Chairman invited members who wished to do so to declare any interest in respect of items on the agenda for the meeting.

Cllr. J. Kaufman declared a personal interest in regard to the substantive items on the agenda as his son worked for the NHS.

The Chairman presented a position statement on the following matters:-

·       The crucial work being undertaken by health, social care and community partners during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

·       The development of a new Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment

·       Joint Strategic Needs Assessments

·       The County Council’s draft Strategic Plan

·       The ongoing media campaign which had seen partners work together to produce a range of communications to encouraging residents to play their part in controlling the spread of coronavirus.

 A copy of the position statement is filed with these minutes.

The Board considered a report of the Director of Adults and Communities which presented the final Leicestershire Better Care Fund (BCF) Plan for 2021/22. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 5’, is filed with these minutes.

The Director said that the BCF documentation was published on the 30th September with a deadline of submission to NHS England of the 16th November 2021. Due to there not being a meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board until after NHS England’s submission deadline, the Chief Executive, following consultation with the Chairman of the Health and Wellbeing Board, took urgent action to submit the BCF Plan for 2021/22. The Board was asked to approve its contents retrospectively.

RESOLVED:

a)    That the urgent action taken by the Chief Executive using his delegated powers, to submit the Leicestershire Better Care Fund (BCF) Plan 2021/22 to NHS England by the deadline of the 16 November 2021, be noted;

b)     That the contents of the Leicestershire BCF submission, including the Planning Template and Narrative for 2021/22 which includes the proposed ambitions associated with the five BCF metrics, as detailed in the Executive Summary section of the narrative document included as Appendix A, be approved.

The Board considered a report of the Director of Public Health and Executive Director, Strategy and Planning, Leicester and Leicestershire and Rutland CC which presented the draft Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy (JHWS) 2022 – 2032 for approval to consult. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 6’, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussion the following points were noted;

·       The JHWS would set the strategic vision and priorities for Health and Wellbeing across Leicestershire for the next 10 years. The Strategy would act as the place based plan for the County.

·       A delivery plan and performance dashboard would be developed to help partners ensure that priorities set out in the Strategy were delivered upon and progress was continuously monitored. A review of the Health and Wellbeing Board’s Terms of Reference and membership would also be undertaken to ensure the Board was best placed to be able to oversee its delivery.

·       The proposed eight week consultation, beginning on the 29 November 2021, would help shape the JHWS and clarify that the priorities identified represented the needs of Leicestershire residents and communities. Whilst the consultation would be undertaken over the Christmas period, officers were confident there was sufficient opportunity to engage with residents and the appropriate partners/stakeholders.

·       The detailed consultation plan set out how engagement with key stakeholders would be undertaken, including presentations at partnership meetings such as the Board’s sub-groups, the Council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Leicstershire Challenge and Equalities Group and the NHS Integrated Care System design groups. Whilst the consultation would be framed around the online questionnaire, there was the ability for officers to meet with specific groups such as carers and community and equalities groups. Local Area Co-ordinators would be asked to facilitate conversations and workshops with residents and communities.

·       The draft Strategy would benefit from strengthening the importance of a transformative approach to health and wellbeing and service delivery, particularly post pandemic. The Strategy should encourage the population to take charge of their own health and wellbeing via a citizen activation approach.

·       It was suggested that the final Strategy could promote the use of a global measure of wellbeing which could be used to track the wellbeing of the local population.

·       Delivery of the priorities set out in the Strategy would be a joint responsibility of health partners. Staffing and resourcing would be constantly monitored In order to ensure there was sufficient capacity within the system.

·       It was suggested that the term ‘industrialising prevention’ which was included within the draft Strategy could be re-phrased.

·       The final Strategy would include detail as to how it aligned to the recently formed Integrated Care System.

·       The proposal for the alignment of the Strategy’s priorities with those identified in Primary Care Network (PCN) and neighbourhood plans was welcomed. This would help ensure the work being undertaken in localities would feed into the County wide (Place) work. To compliment this approach, work was already taking place to strengthen integrated neighbourhood working across health and social care via the PCN and the healthy partnership work at district level.

·       Board members were asked to promote the consultation document within their own organisations.

RESOLVED:

a)    That the draft Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy (JHWS) 2022-2032, attached as appendix A to the report, be approved for consultation;

b)    That it be noted that a Delivery Plan and associated dashboard will be developed to support the delivery of the JHWS;

c)     That it be noted that a report detailing the outcome of the consultation exercise and presenting the final JHWS for approval would be considered by the Board at its next meeting  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

The Board considered a report of the Safeguarding Children Partnership which presented the Annual Report of the Leicestershire and Rutland Local Safeguarding Children Partnership (LRSCP) for 2020/21 and the Business Plan of the LRSCP for 2021/22. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 7’ is filed with these minutes.

It was noted that partnership working in relation to the safeguarding of children remained strong despite the challenging circumstances as a result of the pandemic. The safeguarding of babies was a notable emerging concern during the pandemic and a number of workstreams were in place to improve the position.

The introduction of a rotating Chair of the Partnership Board had enabled the Independent Advisor to step away from that role and focus on scrutinising the work of the Partnership.

In response to questions concerning the level of referrals received during the pandemic, it was recognised that whilst there was a drop in early help referrals during the height of the pandemic, a consistent level concerning child protection matters was received. The Partnership remained confident the level of referrals concerning safeguarding remained consistent however there was a concern that a period of early intervention was missed which would have otherwise been addressed. As a result an increase in the complexity of referrals was now being experienced.

RESOLVED:

That the Annual Report 2020/21 and Business Plan for 2021/22 for the Leicestershire and Rutland Safeguarding Children Partnership and the key points of relevance relating to health and wellbeing, be noted.

The Board considered a report of the Leicestershire and Rutland Safeguarding Adults Board which presented the Annual Report of the Leicestershire and Rutland Safeguarding Adult Board (LRSAB) for 2020/21, and the Business Plan of the LRSAB for 2021/22. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 8’, is filed with these minutes.

It was noted that the LRSAB’s Business Plan for 2021/22 consisted of three priorities, including a shared one with the LRSCP concerning the support pathways available to children and young people who had been exploited.

RESOLVED:

That the Annual Report 2020/21 and Business Plan for 2021/22 for the Leicestershire and Rutland Safeguarding Adult Board and the key points of relevance relating to health and wellbeing, be noted.

The Board considered a report of the Chief Executive, the purpose of which was to seek the Board’s views on the draft Strategic Plan (2022 – 26) as part of the 12-week public consultation period which commenced on 1 November 2021. A copy of the report marked, ‘Agenda Item 9’, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussion the following points were noted:

·       Partners (including district councils) would play a key part in assisting the Council to deliver the priorities set out in the Strategic Plan and the document would therefore benefit from additional detail which set out exactly who the partners were.

·       The ‘Strong Economy’ outcome identified the need to ensure developer contributions were secured. The section could be strengthened to include the need for service provision (such as health) to match the level of housing growth. It was noted that work to ensure such provision was accounted for when new housing developments were built was being undertaken via the Integrated Care System and was referenced in community health and wellbeing plans.

·       In response to concerns that not all the proposed priorities set out in the Strategic Plan aligned, such as the commitment to support the expansion of economic growth and infrastructure whilst also committing to protect the environment, it was noted the Plan’s actions set out further detail as to how certain priorities could be achieved whilst not having a negative impact on the delivery of others. It was acknowledged that further clarity as to how this would be achieved was needed within the document.

·       It was suggested that the Strategic Plan could commit to the ‘Anchor Institute’ approach which promoted the joint use of public sector assets  to create stronger communities and improve the long-term health of the community.

·       Following the adoption of the Strategic Plan, regular update reports would be produced which detailed progress in delivering the Strategy’s priorities. It was noted that the Health and Wellbeing Board and health partners would be particularly interested in the progress in relation to the health outcomes and wider determinants of health and how it linked with work being undertaken elsewhere.

·       Whilst the Strategic Plan focused on the importance of the first 1000 days of a person’s life and the support available to help people live well, it would benefit from the recognition of the importance of partnership working to support people during the last 1000 days of their life as part of a dying well approach.

RESOLVED:

That the Health and Wellbeing Board’s comments concerning Leicestershire County Council’s draft Strategic Plan (2022 – 2026)  be noted.

The Board considered a report of the Director of Public Health which provided the Board with an update on Suicide Prevention work across the County delivered by the County Council’s Public Health Department and its Partnership Group, the Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland Suicide Audit and Prevention Group. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 10’, is filed with these minutes.

Members welcomed the progress that had been made across LLR to address the priority areas set out in the Suicide Prevention Strategy and the commitment to engage with private sector organisations to raise awareness of the suicide prevention agenda and provide training where required.

It was noted that the Integrated Care Partnership, which comprised of senior leaders from across the Health and Care system, would benefit from an update on the matter.

RESOLVED:

That the co-ordinated suicide prevention work being undertaken across the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland area be supported.

The Board considered a report of the Director of Adults and communities which summarised the outcome of the recent tender exercise for integrated home care services to create a new framework of providers. A copy of the report,  marked ‘Agenda Item 11’, is filed with these minutes.

In response to questions concerning the number of providers within each of the 14 zones which made up the framework, the Director said the County had been split into geographical zones based on various factors, including the ability of providers to deliver homecare across the whole zone, which was difficult in some rural areas. It was therefore understandable that the heavily populated zones would attract a greater number of providers.

RESOLVED:

That the work undertaken by the County Council in partnership with Leicestershire Clinical Commissioning Groups to commission and procure home care services, be noted.

Future meetings of the Health and Wellbeing Board will be held at 2.00pm on the following dates:-

 Thursday 24 February 2022

 Thursday 26 May 2022

 Thursday 22 September 2022

 Thursday 1 December 2022

RESOLVED:

That future meetings of the Health and Wellbeing Board will be held at 2.00pm on the following dates:-

Thursday 24 February 2022

Thursday 26 May 2022

Thursday 22 September 2022

Thursday 1 December 2022