To receive a presentation on the Health & Wellbeing Board prior to the Board becoming formally constituted on 1 April 2013.

The Committee received a presentation on the Health and Wellbeing Board.  During her presentation, the Cabinet Member (Health & Wellbeing) highlighted the following issues:

·         That the Board was brought into being by the Health and Social Care Act 2012, which would become a statutory Committee of the Council’s on 1 April 2013.  It had been meeting in shadow form on a monthly basis since 2011.

·         The Membership of the Board.

·         That the Governance and membership was being finalised through a small working group with support from the Local Government Association (LGA).  The guidance and regulations for the Board was still awaited from the Department of Health.

·         The vision and guiding principles for the Board, which had been put together as a result of a series of a series of workshops.

·         The Strategy for the Board, which would have an impact on the health and wellbeing outcomes for the County’s population.  The Strategy linked to other key strategies for Herefordshire and would involve a range of partners and partnerships for the delivery the three priorities for the Board which were the Sustainability of the Health and Social Care System, Demand Management and Crisis Prevention.  Three Lead Board members had been identified for each of these priority areas.

·         The opportunities for the Health and Wellbeing Board and the future outlook for the County as a result of key issues that had been identified in the 2012 Understanding Herefordshire Report.

In the ensuing discussion, the following points were raised:

·         That whilst there was no representation on the Board from the educational community, it was not practicable to have membership from all stakeholders and partners.  The Board currently had thirteen members. Rather than adding to the number of members, the Cabinet Member believed that it was more important to ensure that there was appropriate interaction at an operational level by the Board in areas such as education.

In reply to a question from a Member, the Cabinet Member said that whilst the voluntary sector was under pressure, it was capable of delivering what was expected of it at Board level.  Claire Keech, who represented the sector, was a very able member and also received support in her work from the Council.

In answer to a Member’s question, the Grants and Partnership Officer said that  whilst organisations such as St Michael’s Hospice might not be represented on the Board, one of the care pathways that the Herefordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (HCCG) was working on was that of End of Life, and issues would be picked up through their involvement with the Board.  In reply to a further question, she went on to say that funding from the Community Safety Partnership was allowing positive work to be undertaken concerning alcohol abuse.  There was a whole system approach to alcohol abuse that ensured that as many partners as possible were involved in addressing the issue by way of a ladder of intervention.  The Bottle Top Programme, for example,  which had been aimed at older students, had now been tasked with parental education, as well as alcohol awareness for 12 to 13 year old pupils.

In reply to a further question, the Cabinet Member said that attendance at Board meetings had been good.  There had been a great deal of need to learn how the partner organisations worked, and what their priorities were.  She believed that as a result of this process, the progress that the Health and Wellbeing Board had made was on par with other Boards in the region.

·         That there was a great deal of variation in the approach that Health and Wellbeing Boards had taken to websites, and that work was progressing on providing one for Herefordshire’s Board.

In reply to a Member’s question as to whether there would be a monitoring role for the Board, the Cabinet Member reiterated that guidance for the Board had not yet been provided by the Department for Health.  It would be necessary, however, to deal with the different approaches between Commissioners and Providers.

A Member asked whether there were different strategies to deal with the different life expectancies and health issues of different socio-economic groups within the County.  The Cabinet Member replied that it was up to the three Leads for the three priority areas within the strategy as to how the detailed work would be undertaken.  The next iteration of the Understanding Herefordshire Report would be brought to the Board. The Board had provided direction to the  Joint Strategic Assessment team, and had asked them to focus on domestic abuse.

In reply to a question as to how the Board would ensure that the changes it required were implemented by the Boards of partner organisations, the Cabinet Member said that whilst this was not an issue that had arisen as one of the strengths of the Board was its ability to work together.  As the HCCG Commissioning Plans had to be approved by the Board, issues of that nature could be addressed at this juncture.

The Chairman asked what support the Health and Wellbeing Board would like from this Committee as a result of the recommendations from the report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry by Robert Francis QC.  The Cabinet Member said that the challenge offered by the Committee was beneficial to the work of the Board, and that she would expect to be in a better position to answer the question after the Board had been operational.

In reply to a question regarding how the outcomes from the Boards actions could be measured, the Grants and Partnership Officer said that the Department of Health had provided frameworks within the areas of the Health Service, Public Health and Adult Social Care with performance indicators against which the performance of the Board could be measured.

RESOLVED: That a report on the progress of the Health and Wellbeing Board should be provided to the Committee in July 2013.