Agenda and minutes

Venue: Conference Room 1 - Herefordshire Council, Plough Lane Offices, Hereford, HR4 0LE. View directions

Contact: Henry Merricks-Murgatroyd, Democratic Services Officer 

Link: Watch this meeting live on the Herefordshire Council Youtube Channel

Items
No. Item

42.

Apologies for absence

To receive apologies for absence.

 

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Cllr Mark Dykes.

 

43.

Named substitutes

To receive details of any councillor nominated to attend the meeting in place of a member of the committee.

Minutes:

Cllr Ben Proctor was present as the named substitute for Cllr Mark Dykes.

 

44.

Declarations of interest

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

Minutes:

Cllr Jenny Bartlett noted that she is a volunteer of ECHO.

 

No other declarations of interest were made.

 

45.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 328 KB

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on Monday 17 February 2025.

Minutes:

The minutes of the previous meeting were received.

 

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 17 February 2025 be confirmed as a correct record.

 

46.

Questions from members of the public

To receive any written questions from members of the public.

Minutes:

No questions had been received from members of the public.

 

47.

Questions from members of the council

To receive any written questions from members of the council.

Minutes:

No questions had been received from councillors.

 

48.

Health and Wellbeing Strategy pdf icon PDF 390 KB

To provide an opportunity for the Health, Care and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee to review the progress and challenges of the Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The committee considered a report on the Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

 

The principal points of the discussion are summarised below:

 

  1. The Public Health Principal noted that this was the first time that the Health and Wellbeing Strategy had been brought to scrutiny and provided a background on the strategy.

 

  1. In 2022, the council undertook an extensive consultation process with a range of groups, organisations and the public in an online survey. 960 responses were received to the online survey, including 17 from organisations. Representation was received from across the county and in terms of areas of deprivation.

 

  1. Together with the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) and the Children and Young People’s quality of life survey, all of the information was put together to create the HWB Strategy.

 

  1. There were two key priorities that were voted for across all the consultation and engagement: 1. Best Start in Life and; 2. Good Mental Health.

 

  1. The objectives of the strategy are underpinned by four ambitions:

 

                                               i.     Living in thriving communities

                                              ii.     Living in environments that are healthy and sustainable

                                             iii.     Opportunities for all to fulfil their potential

                                            iv.     People will be empowered to take control of their health

 

  1. There is a focus on prevention, working with and understanding our communities, reducing health inequalities, working as a whole system, and using evidence and outcomes to review progress and shape new programmes of work.

 

  1. The HWB Strategy is not only a council strategy but rather is a partnership strategy and the emphasis is on taking a partnership approach.

 

  1. The strategy was informed by a range of inputs including the 2021 JSNA, and the e Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF) which all local authorities sign up to reporting and recording data on. The PHOF is important, particularly in terms of the long-term approach for this strategy and provides robust data which is Herefordshire-specific. There is a time lag, however, and it can be difficult to demonstrate impact in real-time. These time lags make reporting impact more difficult to attribute to actions taken in the short-term.

 

  1. Work has been ongoing with the groups to begin developing a dashboard including long-term outcome indicators and some proxy indicators, drawn from across partner organisations. For example, on smoking cessation, as of December 2024, local data indicates that the proportion of mothers who were smokers at the birth of their baby has fallen to 6.2% compared to around 8.8% on the PHOF.

 

  1. As part of the strategy, the Herefordshire Together programme was developed across the two priority areas. Local communities and groups were awarded funding to take pieces of work forward. The full evaluation report will be due next month.

 

  1. One of the most successful achievements with the strategy are the two implementation plans for each of the core priority areas. In each of the two implementation plans, it was wanted to make sure that children enjoy good mental health, are protected from harm in their community, achieve their early milestones, and parents are well-supported during pregnancy and post-birth and access  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.

49.

Community Activity - day provision pdf icon PDF 386 KB

To provide information to support the Health, Care and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee’s scrutiny of Community Activity – day provision.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The committee considered a report on Community Activity – Day Provision.

 

The slides presented by the Head of Service Living Well are outlined below (in italics), with the principal points noted below.

 

A The Head of Service Living Well introduced the presentation on Community Activity – Day Provision.

 

B The Head of Service Living Well presented:

 

Overview

 

b.1 It was clarified that some of the services provided allow unpaid carers to receive respite and rest from their main caring duties.

 

How Do We Commission?

 

b.2 It was noted that there is a team of direct payments officers that monitor payments and procurement cards on a regular basis directly with the individuals that are cared for. 

 

Community Activities

 

b.3 Community activities are an important element of the council’s preventative services that help to promote the independence of participants and support individuals to gain a number of different skills.

 

b.4 For some, community activities can be an early introduction into mainstream services that are assessed. It supports the unpaid carer to get the rest that they need.

 

b.5 It was added that there is an upcoming review of the council’s community activities. In the previous year, there was a review of community activities working in partnership with Herefordshire Activities Together. The second phase of that piece of work will focus on a wider review of the service provision to look at some of the council’s building-based services and will consider the utilisation of technologies to help promote the independence of individuals.

 

Community Activity Review

 

b.6 The review is currently in its early stages of planning for that piece of work and is intended to be a co-production between the council and individuals who currently access the community activities provision.

 

C The Registered Manager Shared Lives presented:

 

Herefordshire Shared Lives

 

c.1 In addition to the provision of long-term arrangements, and short breaks, a model has just been launched around ‘Shared Days’ which offers an opportunity to find other ways to offer family carers a break during the day.

 

c.2 Once people have been assessed and approved, there is a nominated coordinator who monitors the work that they are doing and supports them to make sure that CQC requirements are met and that the individuals and carers are happy and the arrangements are working.

 

Living Well, Supporting Well

 

Shared Days Scenarios

 

D The Head of Service Living Well presented:

 

Respite

 

d.1 Respite encapsulates a range of different services including bed-based respite, as well as the ability for individuals to have shared lives or take a direct payment to receive respite.

 

d.2 Work is ongoing with the Carers’ Partnership Board to collect data as part of the carers’ action plan to help understand who else is out there who may need a service.

 

Respite Provisions

 

d.3 There are a number of respite services that are delivered in the county that are both bed-based and non-bed-based by different providers.

 

d.4 It was noted that a capital programme exists to support developments in some of the council’s  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.

50.

Update on recommendations made by the Health, Care and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee pdf icon PDF 395 KB

To provide the committee with an update to recommendations made by the committee since November 2023.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Statutory Scrutiny Officer recommended that the item be deferred to a future meeting. The committee unanimously agreed to the proposal.

 

51.

Work programme 2024/5 pdf icon PDF 392 KB

To consider the work programme for Herefordshire Council’s Health, Care and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee for the municipal year 2024/25.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Statutory Scrutiny Officer noted the draft work programme for the Health, Care, and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee for the municipal year 2024/25. The Statutory Scrutiny Officer also noted that the committee will also be carrying out a review of its work programme prior to its next committee meeting.

 

Resolved that:

 

The committee agree the work programme for Health, Care, and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee contained in the work programme report attached as appendix 1.

 

52.

Date of the next meeting

Date of the next scheduled meeting: Monday 19 May 2025, 2.00 pm

Minutes:

The next scheduled meeting in public was confirmed as Monday 19 May 2025, 2.00 pm.