Agenda item

To provide an update on the Place Based Partnership’s Transformation Priorities.

Belinda Seston (Interim Director of Place Partnerships) gave a presentation on the Berkshire West Place Based Partnership Transformation Programme (Agenda Item 12).

The presentation related to the identified priorities for 2022/23. These were mapped to the Berkshire West Health and Wellbeing Strategy priorities and the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care System priorities.

The Cardiovascular Disease priority was new for 20022/23, with Dr Tracy Daszkiewics as sponsor. The programme built on the success of previous work on building a muscular-skeletal pathway. The key focus was on early detection, since patients were often diagnosed in acute settings when they had experienced heart failure. Consideration was being given to using digital tools to support people in terms of any escalation / exacerbation of their condition.

Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) Working was the second priority. It was noted that there were robust teams in place. There had been significant increases in mental health issues as a result of Covid. The focus was on identifying people with low level mental health needs. Digital tools were being used to understand the population profile. 

The third priority was children and young people’s mental health, which was an established programme. Reporting was via the Children’s Board as well as being monitored through the Unified Executive. The importance of reducing stigma was recognised together with identifying and treating problems to deliver the best outcomes. A far-reaching programme of activities was planned.

The fourth priority was around the additional roles reimbursement scheme for the workforce. £6.3 million would be made available over the next four years to build resilience within Primary Care and support the development of Primary Care Networks. The workforce was identified as a key issue and attention was focused on joint or rotational posts, to try and prevent organisations taking staff from each other. Work was ongoing with educational providers and partners to increase the number of staff within Primary Care. Efforts were being made to diversify the workforce and build MDTs by employing physiotherapists, social prescribers and physician associates.

Rapid Community Discharge had been designated as a priority by the Unified Executive. National funding had ended in March 2022. The Integrated Care System made additional funding available in April and May as part of transitional arrangements. Services would then revert to the pre-pandemic operating model and local leaders from the NHS and local authorities would be meeting to discuss what the optimal model for discharge would look like and how this could be funded.

Councillor Lynne Doherty noted that the presentation contained a lot of information, but because it had been presented at the meeting, there had not been time for Members to read and process the information and then formulate questions. She questioned whether this should be provided in advance of the meeting.

The Chairman acknowledged the criticism. He undertook to distribute the slides after the meeting and suggested that Members could send individual questions directly to Belinda Seston and if there were any outstanding issues, then an item could be brought to a future meeting. He acknowledged that these were ongoing issues that would require a whole-system approach.

Action: Gordon Oliver to circulate the presentation to Members with the minutes.

Andrew Sharp highlighted the CQC report on Huntercombe Hospital that had just been published and suggested that it was odd that the Health and Wellbeing Board was not being warned of such issues. He expressed concern that the Board was watching passively rather than actively being engaged.

Belinda Seston accepted the criticism and offered to discuss this with colleagues.

Action: Belinda Seston to have a discussion with the Unified Executive about how they could be more agile and report back.