Agenda item

Select Committee members are asked to consider the information presented within the report and note the key issues described.

Paul Scott addressed the Select Committee. A copy of the update can be found on their Minute Book and as an online appendix to these minutes, a summary of the update is set out below.

Physical (in)activity

Sport England have published a report based on a survey from 2015-6 into levels of activity in adults from 40-60. 4 out of 10 (41%) adults aged 40 to 60 in England walk less than 10 minutes continuously each month at a “brisk pace” which equates to moderately intense physical activity that brings cardiovascular benefits.

There is a small gender difference: 18.9% of men vs. 20.4% of women but a more striking socio economic inequality, with 32.9% of adults aged 40 to 60 from the most deprived areas being classed as physically inactive, compared to 11.3% in the least deprived areas.

Part of the national strategy to increase levels of activity is the development and promotion of the “Active 10” idea and app. by Public Health England which is encouraging adults to build 10 minutes continuous brisk walking into their day as a simple way to improve their health. The ‘Active 10’ app has been developed to show how much brisk walking a person is doing each day and how to incorporate more of it into their lifestyles. You can visit the website:  http://po.st/Active10_Bath_NESomerset or search active 10 in the app store to download it free.

He informed the Select Committee of the Bathscape Walking Festival that took place from the 16th – 24th September 2017. He explained that the Bathscape Landscape Partnership aims to reconnect people with the unique natural setting of Bath and the surrounding area.

Responding to a burst water main

On July 19th a water main burst at Willsbridge in South Gloucestershire that caused a loss of supply to 35,000 properties in Keynsham, parts of Saltford and Kelston. This then led to a combined response from the B&NES environmental health and public health teams, the local NHS, residential and nursing homes, various businesses and of course Bristol Water, and similar counterparts in South Gloucestershire.

In the event water was off for just about 24 hours, which caused much inconvenience, but no real serious problems or outcomes.

The silver lining to the cloud of such an event is that we get the chance to test emergency response and business continuity plans for real across partnerships. And in this case, as ever, there were some good findings and some lessons to be learned where things didn’t go so well.

On the plus side some findings of what went quite well were:

• Good feedback from Domiciliary Care providers
• Internal team work to help affected businesses/vulnerable groups
• Virgin Care business continuity plans and offer of help from District Nurses to vulnerable patients.
• Public Protection phoning around high risk premises
• Out of hours list and contacts
• Red Cross were very helpful
• We were ready to open the Council’s control room

Some things that went less well were:

• Poor communications from Bristol Water; gravity of event was not recognised from outset, anticipated time to regain water supply varied, there was poor use of website and council and NHS did not initially have any hot-line to operations staff and had to use the public information lines. (It should be noted that Bristol Water said that this was one of their largest ever incidents and the problem of fixing the main was exacerbated by there being a gas pipe alongside which makes the work more delicate and demanding).
• Gaps in Bristol Water’s vulnerable person list – lack of capacity to deliver water to vulnerable people/groups.
• Major incident called late.
• Ability to share vulnerable person information – availability of secure email between partners within and outside NHS.
• Public Protection evening work – under resourced/resilience – would have been tested more by longer lasting event.

As a result of this some work will fall to Bristol Water and partners including:

-  Briefing staff in call-centre

-  Update vulnerable person list

-  Providing an alternative way of LA and other key partners to contact them in an emergency

-  Provide informed information to public and partners on website, point of water collection at bowsers

Follow-up will also include Wessex Water and other utility companies and we will review our mechanisms for ensuring that all partners locally are informed and coordinated in a timely way when there is any significant incident.

Working towards a Smoke Free NHS

The NHS has done much work in recent years to create smoke free sites. Many Trusts are still struggling with smoking related litter, fires on site and the poor image projected by patients, visitors and staff smoking at site entrances and within the grounds of their estate.

B&NES staff are working with colleagues across the STP area (Swindon, Wiltshire and B&NES) to support NHS Trusts and providers to go completely smoke free. This basically means 3 things:

• Everyone understands there is no smoking anywhere on NHS property
• Every frontline professional discusses smoking with their patients
• Every smoker is offered stop smoking support on site or referral to service

Stoptober

Stoptober encourages smokers across England to make a quit attempt during October. Launched in 2012, this is the 28-day stop smoking challenge from PHE that encourages and supports smokers across England towards quitting for good. Stoptober is based on the insight that if you can stop smoking for 28-days, you are five times more likely to be able to stay quit for good. The campaign chunks down the quitting process, presents it as a more manageable 28 days and rallies people around a specific date to get started

New group to support adults bereaved by suicide

The Public Health team and Bath District Cruse Bereavement have joined forces to set up a support group for adults bereaved by suicide. This will meet every third Wednesday of the month at the Open House Centre, Manvers Street Baptist Church in Bath starting 21st September 2017, 18.30 – 20.00.  The group is run by trained volunteers who have themselves been bereaved or affected by suicide.

Councillor Geoff Ward commented that it is a big challenge to increase the levels of physical activity of certain age groups across the Council. He said that in his view it was easier to achieve this if people had access to certain apps for their phones. He said that any future initiatives should be shared appropriately through social media.

Councillor Tim Ball said that any advertising should be used carefully as people who might struggle to walk may take offence at such articles. He added that of course any activity was better than none.

Councillor Lin Patterson said that she welcomed the Suicide Support Group and asked how many people had been involved so far.

Paul Scott said that two open events had been held and one actual meeting, at which nine people were present. He added that if numbers increased consideration would be given to another group being formed.

Councillor Eleanor Jackson asked if a copy of the update report could be sent to the Planning and Highways departments to highlight the need for better walking routes to be achieved through planning decisions. She added that from personal experience she could see the value that the Suicide Support Group would bring to people.

The Chair thanked Paul Scott for the update on behalf of the Select Committee.