To ratify the outcomes of the health and wellbeing board review, agree the board format and make recommendations for the future working arrangements including membership, the vision, priorities and cross-cutting themes.

The chairperson invited the head of partnerships and integration to introduce the report, the principal points included:

1.         A series of workshops had been held with board members and system representatives which had informed the review and the proposed future working arrangements.

2.         Subject to approval by the board, consequential changes to the constitution would be recommended to the audit and governance committee for consideration, prior to submission to full Council.

3.         The review had been undertaken in view of the recent NHS Long Term Plan and the council’s emerging corporate plan – ‘County Plan 2020-24’. 

4.         It was identified that, at a time of continuous change, the health and wellbeing board should be an anchor of place, providing leadership and stability.

5.         The report proposed an updated vision for the board, ‘Herefordshire residents are connected into communities to be resilient; lead fulfilling lives; are emotionally and physically healthy and feel safe and secure’.  The vision was underpinned by five priorities, and eight cross-cutting themes.  It was commented that the vision recognised the importance of working closely with communities and upstreaming prevention.

6.         It was proposed that representatives of other partner organisations be added to the core membership of the board, with the intention to invite further consultative representatives to participate at certain sessions on specific areas of focus.

7.         In order to build the board’s future work programme, it was suggested that the council and the CCG be invited to identify areas of transformational change and key developments in their respective commissioning plans, with some suggested areas identified in paragraph 15 (integrated urgent care pathway, Primary Care Networks, stroke services, and mental health services).

8.         Working groups would be established to consider certain topics and to develop delivery / action plans.

The chairperson expressed her thanks to: board members and other workshop attendees for their hard work on the review; the head of partnerships and integration for facilitating the meetings and for co-ordinating the new arrangements; and Hannah Dalton and Liam Hughes who supported the workshops on behalf of the Local Government Association.

The managing director of the CCG commented that: the workshops had been helpful; the reasons for the suggested areas identified in paragraph 15 were unclear; services for children and young people had been a key topic of discussion; and the five priorities should shape the board’s work going forward.  In response, the head of partnerships and integration advised that one of the roles of the board was ‘Reviewing whether the commissioning plans and arrangements for the NHS, public health and social care (including Better Care Fund submissions) are in line with and have given due regard to the health and wellbeing strategy’ [Constitution paragraph 3.5.24 (g)], so there was a need to be cognisant of those commissioning plans, and the suggested areas involved high priority matters.

The vice-chairperson said that the suggested areas could be viewed from the perspective of children and young people, and he outlined some of the issues that could be included within  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26