To approve the summary of the 2021 Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) for Herefordshire.

The board received a report concerning the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) 2021. Becky Howell-Jones (Acting Director of Public Health, Herefordshire Council) and Charlotte Worthy (Intelligence Unit Team Leader, Herefordshire Council) introduced the report and outlined: the new sections summaries, the importance of risk factors and vulnerabilities and the impact that the right early help and intervention can have on individuals and resources across the whole system. Low productivity concerns, the impact of Covid-19 and the need to link disparate evidence around vulnerabilities, safeguarding and community work were highlighted.

During the course of the debate the board raised the following points and questions:

·        A query was raised about the lower economic value of food and whether there comes a point where productivity becomes meaningless.

Charlotte Worthy explained that there is a need for specialist research to gain a better understanding of what productivity really means. If everything was pinned on the single figure of GVA (Gross Value Added), this could hide potential complexities.

·        It was noted that one of the Himalayan countries uses gross national happiness as their measure of wealth. It was also noted that one of the original designers of the GDP tool had expressed frustration at how the tool was being used for purposes other than for what it was designed for.

·        Concern was expressed regarding the decrease in male life expectancy for men in Herefordshire over the last five years.

Charlotte Worthy explained that confidence measures were very wide and so these figures  were not an absolute measure of a five year reduction. Previously, Herefordshire had been significantly better than the rest of England, but for males there is no longer that significant difference, so male life and healthy life expectancy had fallen off and was now close to the national average.

·        It was proposed that there was a need for a specific piece of work to examine whether this fall was an anomaly or reflected something more meaningful.

The board discussed and proposed an addition (Section d, subsection v) to the recommendations to accommodate this suggestion.

The amended recommendations in the report were proposed and seconded and agreed unanimously.

RESOLVED:   That

a)           The Key Findings of the 2021 Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (at appendix 1 to the report) be approved;

b)          The findings of the JSNA be considered in the development of the board’s priorities and future health and well-being strategies;

c)           Member organisations facilitate the dissemination and use of the JSNA within their organisations and other system networks; and

d)          The priorities for theme-based analysis for 2022/23 be agreed as

i.         continued assessment of the longer-term impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the health and well-being of Herefordshire’s people and place

ii.       system-wide understanding of need and demand for mental health services in the county

iii.      research into the drivers of Herefordshire’s low economic productivity

iv.      continued strengthening of the evidence base by considering how to:

·        bring together partners’ insights about vulnerabilities, safeguarding and community safety

·        measure the impact of environmental changes on people’s  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20