Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and requested that attendees switch their mobile phones etc to silent. He stated that the meeting was being webcasted live and the recording stored on the Council website.

The Administrator drew attention to the emergency evacuation procedure

There were apologies from Jo Farrar (Chief Executive, B&NES Council) and Tracey Cox (Chief Officer, B&NES CCG) and their respective substitutes were David Trethewey, Divisional Director of Strategy and Performance, B&NES Council) and Dawn Clarke (Director, Nursing and Quality, B&NES CCG). There were also apologies from John Holden (Lay Member B&NES CCG) and Councillor Tim Warren (Leader of B&NES Council).

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting.

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest,  (as defined in Part 2, A and B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officer or a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

There was none

There was none

There was none

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting held on Wednesday 25^th March 2015 as a correct record

The Minutes of the previous meeting were approved by the Board and signed by the Chair as a correct record

A verbal report/presentation will be made at the meeting by the Project Lead Officer for Adult Care

The YCYW Programme Manager, Sue Blackman, gave a presentation on “Your Care, Your Way: Designing Community Services”. It covered issues of key functions; the current situation; the impact of population and financial data; and responses from the community from the extensive engagement so far undertaken. It concluded by saying that people needed to work together and implement the core principles of shaping services that were joined up, focussed on the whole person, increased community capacity and ensured their information was available to those who needed it. It was an opportunity to be bold, ambitious and imaginative.

Members asked questions to which the Officer responded as appropriate. Morgan Daly stated that the Healthwatch group valued the work being done and would support the project.  Councillor Vic Pritchard stated that the Authority was starting this in a good position as a result of the joint work undertaken with the CCG and the formation of Sirona 4 years ago.

RESOLVED to note the Update

The Board is recommended to note the Annual Report and the priorities for the Health Protection Board for 2015/16

The Director Public Health gave a presentation on the Health Protection Board Annual Report 2014/15. It covered various issues including the definition of health protection; the duties to be performed; health protection assurance; screening and immunisation; a focus on flu vaccination and health screening campaigns; health care associated infections; communicable diseases and environmental hazards; health emergency planning; sexual health; and substance misuse.

Councillor Michael Evans raised the issue of whether there was a prostate cancer screening programme. The Director of Public Health replied that there was currently no systematic programme; it was unclear regarding survival rates of implementing a screening programme but men of an age of 40+ could request to be screened. The Chair provided some information on the limitations of such testing as things stood.

Councillor Vic Pritchard considered that, when there was a national threat to health, it needed to be widely publicised, such as in the case of Bird Flu. The Authorities were well prepared but the publicity had not always been as effective as it might be. The public needed to be informed of an outbreak and informed what was being done about it. He moved that this be included in the recommendations. The Director agreed that this was an important point and that clarity and consistency were required. The Board approved the motion.

The Chair referred to the issue of flu vaccinations and the difficulty in persuading people to be immunised. He considered how much services for drug and substance misuse had improved in the last 10 years.

RESOLVED to note the Annual Report and the following priorities for the Health Protection Board for 2015/16:

(1)  To ensure that Local Health Resilience Partnership/Local Resilience Forum Plans are effectively operationalised for B&nes by (a) signing off the B&nes Health Protection Incident Control Plan to agree roles and responsibilities, identify gaps and practical solutions to ensure preparedness and response; and (b) identify lessons learnt from outbreaks and incidents and implement action plans;

(2)  To help to ensure resilience of Health Emergency Planning in B&nes;

(3)  To support the development of Air Quality Action Plans (AQAPs) for Saltford and Keynsham;

(4)  To improve the uptake in all childhood immunisation programmes;

(5)  To improve the uptake of flu vaccinations in target groups; and

(6)  To continue to monitor performance in specialist areas, identify risks and ensure mitigation is in place and escalate as necessary.

The Board confirmed approval of the motion by Councillor Vic Pritchard during consideration of this item.

The Board is requested to consider and approve the contents of the Annual Report

Paul Sheehan reported on the Sexual Health Board’s Annual Report.

Members considered the Report and asked questions to which the Officer responded as appropriate. The Director Public Health commended the work done by the Sexual Health Board and the Needs Assessment. There would be psychological aspects which would be challenging for young people but the service would be improved by more public engagement with the young. Other Members also commended the work being undertaken by the Sexual Health Board. The Chair queried the linkage with “Your Care, Your Way”. The Officer responded that there would be links with care services, sexual health promotion and delivery of education sessions.

RESOLVED to approve the Annual Report

The Board is requested to (1) note the Annual Report and Business Plan; (2) raise any queries or concerns on safeguarding activity; and (3) recommend areas on which the LSCB should give consideration

The Head of Safeguarding and Quality Assurance, Lesley Hutchinson, delivered the LSCB Annual Report 2014-15 and Business Plan 2015-18. She took Members through the Report and responded to various questions as appropriate. She gave the apologies of the Board’s Independent Chair, Reg Pengelly, who could not attend the meeting.

Members raised various concerns as requested. It was queried whether the public would be reassured by action taken against child sexual exploitation. The Head of Safeguarding and Quality Assurance responded that there was a comprehensive training programme and various facilities available for assistance – information was received from the Police and vulnerable children could be identified. Other matters raised were:

·  checks on public transport in and out of the district

·  school attendance

·  child sexual exploitation, training and heightened awareness being required

·  the permanence of children placed out of the area and their specific needs

·  the mechanisms in place by Authorities, agencies and in the community

·  sharing information and learning from experiences in other local authorities

·  close partnership working was essential

The Chair summed up the debate and referred to the inter-relationship with this Board and the LSCB and the need to hold each other to account, which perhaps was a better distinction than to “scrutinise”.

RESOLVED to note the Annual Report and Business Plan

The Board is requested to agree that the delivery of the wider economic strategy review action plan should be supported

The Group Manager, Economy and Culture, submitted a report on the Economic Strategy Review. He provided a presentation which covered the context for the Review; themes and priorities; cross-cutting themes; delivering economic growth and the Health and Wellbeing Board; physical regeneration and the Board; skills and employment and the Board; and digital B&NES and the Board.

Members considered the report. Reference was made to the opportunity to be more proactive when looking at the workforce for health and wellbeing. It was stated that it was difficult to make a direct link between the two areas and what means of support would be available when there were inequalities such as for the disabled. There would need to be more private sector involvement due to a shrinking public sector. The Group Manager responded to some of these queries as appropriate.

RESOLVED to support the delivery of the wider Economic Strategy Review Action Plan

The Board is requested to agree that the approach taken (1) fulfils the expectations of how local Healthwatch will integrate with the Health and Wellbeing Network; and (2) complements the aims of the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy

The Healthwatch B&NES General Manager provided an update report and power point presentation on the Joint Healthwatch and Health and Wellbeing Network. There were 3 themes on Helping People to Stay Healthy, Improving the Quality of People’s Lives, and Creating Fairer Life Chances. The report appended the Annual Report for 2014/15 which contained 3 Case Studies relating to these themes.

Members discussed the report. Reference was made to loneliness and isolation and the statistics available from the Healthwatch Advisory Group – there was a duty to provide a service to the increasingly diverse community which would not be to the detriment of the service as a whole. A Member stated that Healthwatch had held successful events which had resulted in recommendations being accepted by the RUH and considerable improvements in services.

RESOLVED to agree that the approach taken (1) fulfils the expectations of how local Healthwatch will integrate with the Health and Wellbeing Network; and (2) complements the aims of the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy

The Chair stated that there were no Twitter questions or statements. The Board noted that there had been 238 people following the meeting on live webcast.