Agenda item

The Panel will receive an update from the B&NES, Swindon & Wiltshire Integrated Care Board (BSW ICB) on current issues.

Laura Ambler, Place Director, B&NES, BSW ICB addressed the Panel. She referred the Panel to some presentation slides that had been circulated to them. A summary is set out below and a copy of the presentation will be attached as an online appendix to the minutes.

BHIF Projects (2023/24)

Overview: In addition to 2022/23 infrastructure funding to address health inequalities, NHSE allocated £2.057m to the B&NES, Swindon and Wiltshire (BSW) Integrated Care System (ICS) in 2023/24.  The funding was aligned to the three localities and B&NES ICA was allocated £357,896 by BSW ICB to address health inequalities.

BSW Priorities for BHIF allocation

BSW ICB Population Health Board identified the following priority areas for allocation of 2023/24 health inequalities funding.

Core20Plus5 for adults

·  Smoking cessation

·  Cardiovascular disease

·  Serious mental illness

Core20Plus5 for children and young people (focus on early years)

·  Mental health and wellbeing

·  Asthma

·  Oral Health

Prevention

Restoring services inclusively

Data and intelligence

BHIF projects funded 2024-25 (deferred from 2023/24)

·  Bath City FC Foundation

·  Bath Rugby Foundation

·  BEMSCA

·  Bright Start Children’s Centres

·  DHI

·  Dorothy House

·  HCRG Care Group

·  Mental Health Motorbike

·  Off The Record

·  Southside Family Project

·  Soundwell Music Therapy

·  VOICES

Primary Care Based Projects (Total value £36k)

In addition to the BHIF projects the following primary care focused projects have been funded from the initial 2022/23 infrastructure funding.

·  Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Friendly GP Project (underway)

Development of a Toolkit to include resources and a Training and awareness Programme for primary care team

·  Primary Care Outreach at Pennard Court in Twerton & Whiteway (core20) Completed

Partnership approach to taking services to people in a manner that is acceptable to them – Pennard Court Care Home

·  Targeted Smoking Cessation Project (underway)

Identifying cohorts within target practices to run searches and explore innovative ways to engage patients to consider a quit journey, utilising the Swap to Stop programme

Evaluation of the BHIF Projects & Next Steps

BHIF projects have been running for 6 months and completed Q2 monitoring (Q3 due Jan 2025)

At System level there is a BSW group which has oversight of performance and monitoring

At locality level, a delegated sub-group of the B&NES Health Inequalities Group (BHIG) met for deep dive into performance with a focus on

·  Project Status (RAG) Milestones Achieved

·  Reporting by Exception

·  Any Risks

·  Good Practice and Lessons Learned

An annual report (June 2025) will present more detail with high level outcomes, expenditure and performance across all funded projects to demonstrate impact and share learning.

Councillor Liz Hardman asked how the uptake of the measles vaccination can be increased in local areas of deprivation.

Laura Ambler replied that over the Christmas period they had worked with colleagues in Public Health to attempt to target areas that might have a lower uptake of this vaccination. She added that B&NES typically is slightly above the national average in these figures, but would always look to improve where possible.

Kevin Burnett asked how the need for Pharmacies is assessed and what criteria is used to form this decision.

Laura Ambler replied that a Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment takes place annually and said that there are no gaps in provision that we are aware of. She added that she believed that a report was forthcoming to a future meeting of the Health & Wellbeing Board.

Kevin Burnett commented that he welcomed the news relating to flu vaccinations for children, but asked if more work was required for the adult programme given the currented numbers being reported as being admitted to hospital.

Laura Ambler replied that she believed that there was a particularly nasty strain of flu in circulation at the moment and that this coupled with other respiratory illnesses had led to an increase in hospital admissions.

Councillor Lesley Mansell referred to physiotherapy care and asked for an explanation of the line in the report ‘… waiting lists in December are on target for recovery’.

Laura Ambler replied that this was reference to the recovery plan that they had put in place and that figures were returning to the levels that they would expect to see.

Councillor Mansell asked if it was known when the next Clinical Harm Review Process was due to be completed regarding physiotherapy.

Laura Ambler replied that she would seek to find out this information on behalf of the Panel.

Councillor Mansell asked if the name for the new specialist mental health facility, Kingfisher, would be confusing at all as another service locally for disabled people was named Swallow.

Laura Ambler replied that the name for the new facility was decided upon in collaboration with service users, their families and carers.

Councillor Mansell referred to an incident in another part of the country which had seen a nurse stabbed in a hospital. She asked what provision is in place at the RUH to protect its staff.

Laura Ambler replied that she would ask for an assurance on safeguarding at the RUH on behalf of the Panel.

Councillor Mansell asked what the current waiting times were for ambulances when arriving at the Accident & Emergency department at the RUH.

Laura Ambler replied that there are robust procedures in place in terms of waiting times for ambulances in respect of 4 hours, 6 hours or if a time of 8 hours is breached. She added that this is an area that is monitored daily and that they work closely with SWAST (South Western Ambulance Service Trust).

Councillor Joanna Wright referred to measles vaccinations and asked how the further 5.3% uptake could be achieved in order reach 95% which is the figure stated for herd immunity. She asked if this was an issue because of home schooling and any data associated with that. She also explained that a family member was unable to receive a flu vaccination in Lambridge as none were available and asked if there had been a reported shortage in the area.

Laura Ambler replied that she would ask colleagues within the Vaccinations team to provide a response on those points raised.

Councillor Wright referred to the presentation slides and asked who were the ‘seldom heard groups’ referred to on slide 20.

The Associate Director in Public Health replied that this was an area that the Health Equalities Manager had been working on to try to find best way to enable engagement. He said that an update on how engagement with local communities has progressed could potentially be available in June.

Councillor Ruth Malloy asked where in Bristol would the new Kingfisher facility be situated and when was it due to open.

Laura Ambler replied that it would be sited at Blackberry Hill and was due to operational by Autumn 2025. She added that there had been some delays due to the planning process and would provide further updates to the Panel through the year.

The Chair thanked Laura Ambler on behalf of the Panel for the update.