Agenda item

Each Board Member to give a 10 minute overview of their area.

• The Local Authority (Councillor Gordon Lundie)
• Clinical Commissioning Groups (Dr Alex Anderson)
• Health Watch (TBC)
• Public Health (Dr Lise Llewellyn )
• Empowering West Berkshire (Leila Ferguson)
• Health and Wellbeing Task Groups (Andy Day and Lesley Wyman)

Councillor Graham Jones in introducing this item noted that the Health and Wellbeing Board provided a great opportunity for integration for both the Local Authority and Health. The transfer of Public Health into the authority as of the 01 April 2013 also provided a great opportunity for additional democratic involvement in this area.

The Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) had already been integrated into the Board and opportunities were being sought to engage more broadly with other professionals that would have an impact on the health and wellbeing of the District. This would offer and opportunity to address some of the broader determinants of wellbeing. Workshops would be run in the future to look at ways that broader engagement could be enacted.

Dr Alex Anderson noted that as of the 01 April 2013 the CCGs had become statutory bodies and were responsible for a number of aspects of health care including secondary care and commissioning services although they were not responsible for general practices or tertiary care.

There were two CCGs in West Berkshire namely:

·        Newbury and District CCG

·        North and West Reading CCG

The Newbury and District CCG comprised 11 practices all of whom fell within the West Berkshire District boundary. Three of the ten North and West Reading practices fell within West Berkshire boundaries.

Both CCGs had already submitted their Clinical Commissioning Plans which set out their priorities for the forthcoming year.

Newbury and District CCG had identified the following priorities in their Commissioning Plan:

1.      Delivery of 9 care processes for people with diabetes, to achieve best practice care for everyone;

2.      Better identification of carers by GP practices, to enable targeted support;

3.      Offer Cardiovascular Health Checks to eligible patients in the 40-74 year age range.

North and west Reading CCG had identified the following priorities in their Commissioning Plan:

1.      Delivery of 9 care processes for people with diabetes – to achieve best practice care for everyone;

2.      Better identification of people with Cancers;

3.      Reducing Non Elective admissions for people with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

Natausha Van Vliet from Family Resource Centre UK explained that this independent charity organisation had been awarded the Healthwatch contract in West Berkshire. Their aim was to give a stronger voice to communities and the people within West Berkshire, helping to influence and shape how health and social care service in West Berkshire were provided. The local board had now been set up and had been fully recruited to. Their first meeting would take place in May.

Lise Llewellyn explained that Public Health had transferred from the NHS to the Local Authority as of the 01 April 2013. One of the key functions would be to undertake a Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) of the district which would be used as the basis for the Health and wellbeing Strategy and would assist the CCGs when they produced their Commissioning Plans in future years and would also be used to hold the organisations to account. This small group of staff would be responsible for a range of areas and their main aims were to add years to life and also to address any inequalities relating to public health that existed within the District.

Lesley Wyman reported that this was an exciting and challenging time for Public Health and although the transfer had only taken place three weeks ago the team had already manage to forge a number of new links with colleagues across the Council. A Public Health and Wellbeing Integration Programme Board had been set up to expedite and underpin these links.

The recently adopted Health and Wellbeing strategy set out the following vision for West Berkshire “We aim to add years to life and life to years for the residents of West Berkshire”. The Strategy set out the following priorities:

1.      Addressing childhood obesity in the Primary School Phase;

2.      Supporting those over 40 years old to address lifestyle choices detrimental to health;

3.      Promoting independence and supporting older people to manage their long term conditions;

4.      Giving every child the best start in life;

5.      Supporting a vibrant district.

Workshops would be run to establish what activity was already being undertaken to support these priorities and to deliver action plans for future delivery. The first workshop had taken place in January 2013 and a second had been arranged for the 16 May 2013.

Leila Ferguson explained that she was the Empowering West Berkshire (EWB) appointee to the Board. EWB was an umbrella organisation representing all the voluntary sector groups across the district. They had been set up to co-ordinate activity and provide information to the various organisations.

Councillor Pamela Bale explained that she was the Chairman of the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) which was a group comprising representatives from the voluntary sector, statutory bodies, local government and private organisations. The focus of the group over the past few years had largely been project driven revolving around the more deprived areas of the District (Greenham and Calcot) and it was anticipated that this role would provide a link between the LSP and the Health and Wellbeing Board going forward. Similarly Councillor Graham Jones would attend LSP meetings. In addition Councillor Bale’s Portfolio was also linked to parish planning and it was anticipated that this role could also feedback information about initiatives in the community that were supporting both health and wellbeing in the district.

Councillor Graham Jones thanked the Board for providing information on the various roles they undertook and how this work could support the activity of the Board.