Apologies were received from Councillor JG Lester, Chris Baird and Ian Stead.

To receive any details of members nominated to attend the meeting in place of a member of the health and wellbeing board.

Christine Price substituted for Ian Stead as the Healthwatch representative.

To receive any declarations of interest by members in respect of items on the agenda.

None.

To receive questions from members of the public relating to matters on the agenda.

(Questions must be submitted by 5pm two clear working days before the day of the meeting (in this case, by 5pm on Thursday 8 June 2017).

No questions were received.

To note the development of the arrangements from a focus on preparation of a sustainability and transformation plan into establishment of a sustainability and transformation partnership (STP), to influence the further work on the plan in the light of national guidance and feedback from local public engagement, and to ensure local implications are addressed.

The director for adults and wellbeing introduced the item and explained that the purpose of the report was to highlight to the board the work done to date on establishment of a sustainability and transformation partnership (STP), and to ask the board to consider whether feedback from local public engagement and local implications had been addressed in the development of the STP plan.

The director drew particular attention to paragraph 10 of the report which set out the three key areas to be considered when reviewing the draft plan, namely:

·         the requirement to have regard to the health and wellbeing strategy and the joint strategic needs assessment adopted by the board;

·         that individual bodies remain accountable and should take account of the STP plan in their own planning; and

·         the triple aim of population wellbeing, high quality service delivery and financial sustainability.

As the STP plan was being revised no specific comments would be made in the public meeting. The revised draft would be circulated to members of the board in the next few days. The director of adults and wellbeing would collate detailed comments from board members.

The chairman commented that she felt broadly assured that the STP plan did adhere to the Herefordshire health and wellbeing strategy. The engagement work that had taken place was welcomed and it was noted that there was nothing in the feedback which suggested either the plan or the strategy were awry.

In the ensuing discussion the following points were raised:

·         that a lot of detailed planning work had taken place prior to the STP and had been used to inform the plan;

·         that Herefordshire could not solve all its challenges alone, there would be a need to work across a greater footprint to tackle some issues, Worcestershire was the prime partner but would not be the only partner engaged with;

·         there were no specific areas in the draft plan on mental health or children and young people, it was important these were included;

·         there was a close alignment between the One Herefordshire work and STP work, Herefordshire was speaking with one voice to influence the overall direction;

·         the approach taken should reassure the board that processes were mutually reinforcing and supportive.

The feedback from the public engagement exercise was noted. There was concern about access to GPs and that information and advice was not as clear as it could be. Concerns about transport were noted but the board was cautioned that this could reflect perceived difficulties rather than actual difficulties experienced by patients. There was a desire from carers for more support and it was noted that while technology could play an important part in providing remote support if the public did not find it easy to use they would not use it. Technology was cited as a good example of the broader role of the council as it led on delivering broadband access and mobile phone coverage across the county.

The healthwatch representative stated that the feedback to the public engagement  ...  view the full minutes text for item 124.