Agenda and draft minutes

Purpose: To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 11 June 2024.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 11 June 2024 were approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Purpose: To receive an update on actions following the previous Health Scrutiny Committees.

Members were asked to note the outstanding actions which were in progress.

Purpose: To remind Members of the need to record the existence and nature of any personal, disclosable pecuniary or other registrable interests in items on the agenda, in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct.

There were no declarations of interest received.

Purpose: To consider any petitions requiring an Officer response.

There were no petitions received at the meeting.

Purpose: To review the system approach to adult mental health in West Berkshire. Including a review of how mental health services are delivered to the rural population in West Berkshire, the community mental health transformation programme and the preventative approach.

Rachel Johnson (Senior Programme Officer, Public Health and Wellbeing) presented the report on Public Mental Health in West Berkshire (Agenda Item 6). During the presentation the following points were highlighted:

·         It was noted that everyone had mental health, and the Public Health role was not only regarding ill health, but also about people looking after their own mental health, how to improve it and prevent mental illness.

·         Rachel Johnson shared with the Committee a number of examples of initiatives relating to improving mental health. These included: a guide to local mental wellbeing services, wellbeing bags in libraries and the Five Ways to Wellbeing approach. A number of leaflets were shared in relation to these initiatives which were included in the minutes.

·         It was advised that there were a number of national campaigns including Mental Health awareness week, world mental health day and Every Mind Matters. NHS campaigns were also promoted by the Public Health team.

·         Many areas of West Berkshire Council were also involved in improving public mental health and these included the family hubs, leisure centres, green spaces, and the museum.

The mental health leaflets shared by Rachel Johnson were reviewed by Members who raised questions regarding the accessibility of the leaflets for members of the public as well as how they were shared with parish councils and councillors. It was noted that the z-card format (information sheet folded to credit card size) was useful but incurred an additional cost to produce. It was advised that the information in the leaflets were on the West Berkshire Council website, taken to events with a public health presence, shared with partner organisations and were on social media.

Action: Rachel Johnson to feedback if leaflets could be made available in reception at Market Street and email the documents to all West Berkshire Council Councillors.

Colin Edwards (Head of Joint Commissioning, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board (BOB ICB)) gave an overview of the report on West Berkshire Community Adult Mental Health (Agenda item 6). Dr Garyfallia Fountoulaki (Clinical Director Community Mental Health Services, Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust) then gave an overview of the report on Community Mental Health services (Agenda item 6). Dr Fountoulaki noted the following in addition to the contents of the report:

·         The One Team development launched a few months ago and was a new model for Berkshire. This was to ensure all services worked together to reduce transition points which led to delays.

·         When discussing context and challenges, it was noted that there were no opportunities to train in West Berkshire and so staff needed to be attracted to this area. There was a national workforce shortage due to the ageing population and demand increasing.

·         The MHICS teams were based in GP surgeries and sometimes struggled to find space. Online appointments were offered but were not always appropriate.

·         It was noted that West Berkshire was a large area which meant that transport times and access issues made it harder to offer face to face appointments.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Purpose: To review the approach to suicide prevention in West Berkshire.

Steven Bow (Public Health Consultant) presented an overview of the report on Suicide Prevention Activities in West Berkshire (Agenda Item 7). During the presentation the following points were added:

·         There were around 10 – 11 suicides each year. Audits around suicides in Berkshire took place which looked at the personal and social circumstances of each death.

·         There was a pan Berkshire suicide prevention strategy, under which a local suicide prevention plan was being developed for West Berkshire. Steven Bow asked for comments from the Committee in relation to this development.

Dr Sue McLaughlin (Lead for Suicide Prevention, Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (BHFT) gave an overview of the report on the suicide prevention strategy at BHFT. A new carer panel had just been launched so if a carer had a concern, they could speak to an independent panel. This was developed in response to feedback from serious incidents.

During the discussion it was noted that a national survey had found that the public were now more concerned about mental health than cancer or obesity. The importance of suicide prevention fist aid was highlighted. It was confirmed that the local suicide prevention first aid provision was run through the Volunteer Centre West Berkshire. West Berkshire Council were assisting and there was a plan to deliver the training in education / school settings. It was noted that mental health support was particularly important in schools. The BOB ICB, who commissioned mental health support services, were reviewing the role of mental health support teams in schools such as emotional health academies and looking to improve coverage of those teams. They were also focussing the whole school approach to mental health by promoting mental health and wellbeing across the whole student population.

Debt and mental health were discussed, noting that it was not only the stigma of debt that affected mental health. Being in debt and other financial concerns could affect mental health. It was highlighted that some people in debt did not seek help for debt due to embarrassment or feeling judged by others.

Specific support for people bereaved by suicide was discussed as tailored specialist support was required. There was a need to rapidly make contact with bereaved family members. This was facilitated through referrals from the police and by the real time surveillance system.

It was noted there was a rapid increase in hospital admissions due to self-harm in West Berkshire from 2014/15 and a question was raised as to whether this was a trend, due to low relative numbers or due to changes in coding. It was noted that this should be looked into further.

Action: Steven Bow to explore the data relating to the self-harm rates of young people in West Berkshire and share an overview with Members of the Health Scrutiny Committee.

It was recommended by Members that considering initiatives to support parents was important. As well as managing the impact from future pandemics.

It was asked how the impact of social media had impacted the suicide prevention  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Purpose: The Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board (ICB) to provide an update on activities and commissioning plans.

Helen Clark (Deputy Place Director, Berkshire West) gave an overview of the report on the activities of the BOB ICB (Agenda item 8). It was noted that further information regarding winter planning would be shared shortly and that the report provided an overview. The Place-based winter plan would be put together as part of the BOB-wide winter plan. There was focus on winter vaccinations. The plan was at an early stage but would include working with Public Health on falls prevention.

Helen Clark highlighted that the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) had been implemented across all four Primary Care Networks within West Berkshire. 95.74 full time equivalent staff had been funded through this route. Three of the Four Primary Care Networks had spent all of their allocated budget. There was one with a slight underspend which was being looked into. There was no standard model for the exact triage pathway and skill mix, and so some GP practices may have worked differently.

The BOB ICB were working with Primary Care Networks to gather data on patient feedback. This was picked up in the Primary Care Strategy to focus on engagement and the ARRS. Healthwatch had recently carried out some work on GP access and the report was currently being written.

RESOLVED to note the report.

Purpose: Healthwatch West Berkshire to report on views gathered on healthcare services in the district.

Jamie Evans (Area Director, Healthwatch West Berkshire) presented the report on the work plan for 2024/25 and other activities carried out by Healthwatch West Berkshire. This report was shown within the Minutes.

It was advised that the GP Access project report would be published the following week. This would be on the Healthwatch website and promoted on social media.

It was advised that the Women’s Health Hub would be running in a couple of surgeries rather than as planned across Berkshire West.  Healthwatch would be carrying out engagement work in relation to this.

Jamie Evans advised the Committee that there was work ongoing to drive the Healthwatch strategy forward. As part of that enter and view capacity would be expanded following a volunteer recruitment campaign. There would be a regular programme of enter and view which currently could not be delivered due to capacity constraints. Currently they had 2 volunteers.

It was advised that Healthwatch supported people with specific health service complaints through advising on the process and signposting.

RESOLVED to note the report.

Purpose: To agree the Terms of Reference and Membership for any Task and Finish Group that the Health Scrutiny Committee might wish to appoint in-depth scrutiny reviews:

1) Childrens mental health and emotional wellbeing

The Chairman noted the Terms of Reference for the Task Group for Children’s Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing.

The Terms of Reference were approved. Cllr Vickers, Cllr Jeffery and Cllr Steevenson expressed interest on working on this Task Group.

Purpose: To receive new items and agree and prioritise the work programme of the Committee.

The Chairman invited Members to review the work programme. It was noted that GP access was on the agenda at the Health Scrutiny Committee in December 2024.

The importance of Health in All Polices and prevention was noted as being crucial. It was confirmed that this item was on the work programme.

RESOLVED to note the work programme.