Agendas, Meetings and Minutes - Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Online only

Contact: Kate Griffiths 

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Items
No. Item

582.

Apologies and Substitutes

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Louise Bramble, Paula Furnival, Simon Trickett and Sarah Dugan.

Lennie Sahota attended for Paula Furnival, Ruth Lemiech for Simon Trickett and Sue Harris attended for Sarah Dugan.

583.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

None

584.

Public Participation

 Members of the public wishing to take part should notify Legal and Governance in writing or by e-mail indicating the nature and content of their proposed participation on items relevant to the agenda, no later than 9.00am three working days before the meeting (in this case 9.00am on 12 November 2020). Enquiries can be made through the telephone number/e-mail address below.

Minutes:

None

585.

Confirmation of Minutes

Minutes:

The minutes were agreed to be an accurate record of the previous meeting and would be signed by the Chairman.

 

The Chairman pointed out that as the minutes had only recently been published if Members subsequently found that they wished to make a comment on the minutes they could be addressed at the next meeting.

586.

Digital Exclusion Across NHS Services pdf icon PDF 224 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Mike Emery, CCG Director of Digital Health and STP Lead for the Digital programme, updated the Board on the work done by health services in Worcestershire on digital inclusion.

 

A report had been produced by Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit for the Primary Care accelerator programme around transforming primary care with technology such as the use of apps and video conferencing. The situation over the last few months had meant there had been a significant increase in the use of digital services and there was the risk that some of the community would be alienated by this. The report looked at how to identify hard to reach groups and how the use of NHS and self management apps would be promoted.

 

Digital inclusion looks at people’s ability to use digital devices, how easy ere the digital products were to use, as well as connectivity. Digital exclusion was a form of inequality and there was a strong link between digital exclusion and those who were socially disadvantaged with lower incomes, levels of education and quality of housing.

 

The Acorn classification which uses consumer data and demographics was used to produce a map of the most digitally excluded people in the county. This was shared with partners and can be used to see where support work was needed.

 

Various groups were already working to aid digital inclusion such as Worcester Housing Association holding drop-in sessions to help residents get online, relate were holding counselling sessions online and Community First were making use of village halls to hold digital sessions. Worcestershire County Council’s 5G pilot project would help with connectivity issues in the county.

 

An Action Plan was starting to be developed. It recognised barriers such as a lack of confidence, skills or motivation to engage with health services. The distribution of equipment such as Alexas was being considered as well as up skilling those who needed help with digital equipment as well as working with people who were isolated. It was noted that the report was largely written pre-covid but things had progressed since then and going forward partners would have to provide detailed plans for the STP on how this work would be progressed.

 

During the discussion various points were considered:

·       The Voluntary Sector wanted to know how they could help advance digital inclusion and were told they would like the opportunity to speak to groups to identify people they could work with to upskill patients or community groups and also to gain knowledge of where there was a deficit in terms of knowledge or connectivity

·       It was asked whether enough was being done in the short term to help people as it was accepted that things such as improving connectivity were longer term measures.

·       It was recognised that it was difficult to reach some groups such as the homeless, but GPs were aware of the most vulnerable adults

·       Ipads had been delivered to some care homes to enable residents to engage with family and health services

·       The delivery of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 586.

587.

Worcestershire Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Report pdf icon PDF 229 KB

Minutes:

Derek Benson explained that the Safeguarding Adults Annual Report covered the year up to the end of March 2020 but also highlighted how safeguarding had been impacted by Covid-19 since then.

 

Since March the Board has met more frequently than previously to discuss issues of concern such as scams, referrals and the situation in care homes and rough sleeping. The Safeguarding Adult Review on Rough Sleeping had been recently published. The Annual Report gave details about budgets and the structure of the Board and its sub-groups. There was less data in the report than previous years due to pressure on staff this year and the transfer of systems which meant it had proved difficult to compare data to previous years.

 

There was a broad range of representation on the Board and good attendance from adult Social Care, the Police, the CCG, Health, Probation, Regulatory Services, PH, District Councils, Housing Services, Care Homes and the Voluntary Sector.

 

Progress had been made against the Board’s objectives:

1 – Ensuring there was an effective pathway for safeguarding concerns – Developments included the introduction of a website created with the Children’s Partnership; a newsletter; regular learning events and a revised training strategy,

 

2- Joint Working with the Children’s Partnership – Working together on projects around exploitation and Get Safe,

 

3 - working with the University of Worcester on how to scope a project around exploitation,

 

Safeguarding Adult Review of Rough Sleeping: the problem had been addressed in the short term with funding during the pandemic but after the funding stops the issue would still remain. In 2019/20 there were 12 referrals which had led to 5 new SARs. There was also a lot of work carried over from the previous year. There was an established process for Safeguarding reviews and more were carried out in Worcestershire than in some other areas.

 

Priorities for this year and going forward were around making the system work around the mental capacity act, Liberty Protection Safeguards, working with Children’s Safeguarding and wicked issues such as exploitation and rough sleeping.

 

The Chairman thanked Derek for the report and wished to place on record his thanks to the District Councils for the work they had done during the pandemic on finding accommodation for rough sleepers. 

 

Board Members made various comments:

 

·       The report was welcomed and partnership working was recognised as necessary for moving issues forward

·       There were 2 projects around exploitation, one led by the police had needed to be put on hold but the other project with the University was now progressing and learning was being gained from the excellent work which had been done by Children’s services

·       It was queried whether the system was robust enough to get through the difficult winter that was undoubtedly ahead, especially concerning rough sleeping and whether the safeguarding board had enough resources. It was hoped that funding for rough sleepers continued because the present situation had shown that with extra funding an impact can be made. The rough sleeping review was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 587.

588.

Joint Strategic Needs Assessment Annual Summary pdf icon PDF 319 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment was being developed to enable it to provide insight and information rather than just data. Matt Fung presented slides and highlighted the health impacts of Covid-19.

 

Covid had a complex impact on various aspects of life within the County. At the previous meeting, details had been given about how the JSNA was being reset but it was an on-going process with input from lots of partner organisations required, in order to chart current and future care needs.

 

Worcestershire was generally an affluent area and people were in good health so for most national indicators the County should aim to be above the England average. The more deprived areas of the County had a higher likelihood of Covid death.

 

The Annual Report showed the health impact assessment of Covid 19. The information available was constantly evolving and would be updated regularly so would be a fundamental document to help health services. The JSNA could be used to mitigate certain effects such as how it would be possible to enable health services to address some inequalities, catch up with treatments which people had missed; identify high risk groups and address issues such as a fall in the amount of exercise being taken. Alternative forms of delivery could be considered such as making more use pharmacies as well as digital services.

 

There was a system wide response to how to deal with the effects of Covid. For children and young people there were concerns around safeguarding, ACEs and disrupted education. Positives had been shown in communities coming together to provide help and support but the housing stock needed to be improved.

 

Next steps included identifying further mitigation against impacts, especially those due to inequality. The evidence base was constantly evolving but it could be used to ensure the right things were included in the Joint Health and Well-being Strategy when it was renewed in 2021.

 

In the ensuing discussion, Board Members made the following comments:

·       The Cabinet Member for Children and Families was concerned about Children who were moving into care and needed a mental health assessment as well as a physical one. At a recent care conference it was reported that such assessments were vital but they were still not happening

·       The Directory of Children’s services detailed how badly children had been affected by the pandemic. She agreed with the need for mental health assessments for young people moving into care. She felt there was a lot of work to do but the new Joint Health and Well-being Strategy and Children and Young People’s Plan should work together. It was known that the old, young and poor were most affected by Covid. The rate of unemployment of young people had risen but apprenticeship schemes should help. There had been an increase of 2500 children claiming free school meals since April as a direct impact of Covid. Laptops had been given out to children who did not have access to devices at home but it was recognised that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 588.

589.

Developing a new Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy pdf icon PDF 144 KB

Minutes:

Rachael Leslie explained that a Joint Health and Well-being Strategy (JHWS) was a statutory requirement but there was no mandated format or time period. The current Strategy had the key aims of increasing physical activity, improving mental well-being and reducing the use of alcohol and had been for 5 years. A new Strategy would be developed for 2021 to meet the needs identified in the JSNA possibly with a small number of priorities but over a longer timeframe.

 

Joint Health and Well-being Strategies in other areas had been assessed and there was generally a move away from topics towards themes and inequalities and a focus on the wider determinants of health. Most strategies looked at ways of working such as asset-based approaches or tackling ACES and working together to make long term impacts.

 

Strong engagement and co-production was recognised as being important but it was difficult to bring people together. A small strategic group had held one meeting about the development of the new strategy but it was still possible for the membership of that group to be expanded. The group had looked at what other areas were doing and it recognised that it was necessary to work with the Children’s and Young People’s Strategy. There was a wealth of intelligence already available but any gaps needed to be identified.

 

Next steps would be to identify some possible priority areas and check with Partners and the local population that they were working along the right lines. As well as moving towards themes and looking at inequalities or asset-based approaches, it was felt that the time period of the strategy should be longer term, maybe up to 20 years, to give opportunities to measure change. There was a suggestion that a reference group could be created to detail what changes individuals experienced in their lives each year to show what impact the strategy was having. The high-level document would be supported by more focussed action plans. The strategy would initially be funded by the Public Health Ring Fenced Grant, although other funding was also available for improving health.

 

Various comments were made by Board members:

·       It was queried how members of the public would be invited to engage to ensure that the strategy did not just reflect the views of professionals. It was explained that a large amount of insight and information was already available from various agencies and Worcestershire Children First would be launching a survey which would be going out to all parents, carers and families as well as professionals, to see what was important to them. Following the collection of such information any gaps could be identified and efforts made to engage using various methods such as questionnaires or focus groups

·       There were concerns that as the STP covered both Herefordshire and Worcestershire it shouldn’t be the driver for the local strategies but rather the Health and Well-being Board should be the driver within Worcestershire. It was agreed that care was needed that duplication did not take place  ...  view the full minutes text for item 589.

590.

Children and Young People's Strategic Partnership Update pdf icon PDF 257 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Catherine Driscoll gave a brief update from the Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership Group. The group had been in existence for two years and was still finding its feet. Following the end of Children’s Trust Boards, the voice of the child in strategic arrangements had been lost but the Children’s Strategic Partnership Board was now the place to consider children’s issues at a strategic level and was responsible for the Children and Young People’s plan (CYPP). The Group was led by the Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Children and Young People and the group achieved good attendance including from District Councils.

 

Progress had been made since the Children’s social care inadequate judgement had been received from Ofsted in 2016. A strong foundation was in place ready for a new plan to be brought in but there was more to do. Although the CYPP needed to be aligned with the JHWS it was a separate strategy which allowed Children’s services to have its own voice which was separate from the general population.

 

Board Members had some concerns about the amount of statistics in the report and it was felt that it was dangerous to rely on averages as that didn’t show the full range of experiences. It was confirmed that each of the six district Councils had a member on the Partnership Board and provided input about issues such as housing and leisure which are district responsibilities.

 

RESOLVED that the Health and Well-being Board noted for information the summary of the Review of Worcestershire’s Children & Young People’s Plan 2017-2021 Ultimate Outcomes and the update on consultation and actions to refresh the plan for 2021 onwards.

 

591.

Future Meeting Dates

Public meetings (All Tuesday at 2pm)

·       23 February 2021

·       25 May 2021

·       28 September 2021

·       16 November 2021

 

Private Development meetings (All Tuesday at 2pm)

·       2 February 2021

·       30 March 2021

·       22 June 2021

·       19 October 2021

 

Minutes:

Public meetings (All Tuesday at 2pm)

·       23 February 2021

·       25 May 2021

·       28 September 2021

·       16 November 2021

 

Private Development meetings (All Tuesday at 2pm)

·       2 February 2021

·       30 March 2021

·       22 June 2021

·       19 October 2021

 

Locations to be confirmed