Hampshire County Council Health and Wellbeing Board Meeting

Apologies were received from Alex Whitfield, Penny Emeritt, Julie Amies, Terry Norton, Clare Jenkins, Councillor Edward Heron and Councillor Anne Crampton.

Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter considered at the meeting they must declare that interest at the time of the relevant debate and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3, Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Personal interest in a matter being considered at the meeting they considered whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 5 of the Code, considered whether it was appropriate to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

The minutes of the meeting held on 15 December 2022 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

There were no deputations.

Councillor Warwick announced that she was delighted to have been appointed as the new Chairman of the Board. She thanked Councillor Fairhurst for her excellent chairing of the Board over many years and noted that the close working relationship would continue as Councillor Fairhurst remained as the Executive Lead Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health. Councillor Warwick also noted that she was looking forward to working with Matt Nisbet, the newly appointed Vice Chairman of the Board.

The Chairman drew Members’ attention to the new mental wellbeing strategy for Hampshire setting out the vision for improving outcomes and reducing inequalities in mental wellbeing over the next five years. The Chairman noted a key priority of the strategy was to encourage people to talk about mental health without fear of prejudice or discrimination. In doing so, the Chairman endorsed the County Council’s Chat About scheme which provided welcoming spaces where people can gather to connect and talk. The scheme operates out of 23 libraries currently and specially trained staff are on hand at each session. Further information can be found on the Hampshire Libraries and Hampshire Mental Wellbeing webpages.

The Board considered the report and presentation setting out the published Integrated Care Strategy for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (HIOW) Integrated Care System (ICS) as well as the draft strategy for Frimley ICS which was due to be ratified at the Frimley Integrated Care Partnership meeting for publication in March.

Members discussed the importance of developing services that grow alongside and involve communities as opposed to dictating to residents how health services should work. The Board were supportive of the approach taken by both ICS’s prioritising co-production and community ownership of health and wellbeing.

RESOLVED:

That the Health and Wellbeing Board:

 i.    Receives the report and notes the priorities identified in the two strategies.

ii.   Considers its role in helping to deliver the emerging priorities across both ICS’s.

The Board considered the report providing an update on the priorities and progress on the Ageing Well chapter of the Health and Wellbeing Board Strategy. A presentation also highlighted key areas of progress across older adults’ health and care, digital and technology and public health programmes.

Members discussed the importance of working together to ensure that the network of services and provision which impacted upon ageing well, including but not limited to transport, climate change, social care, vaccination programmes, worked cohesively and the significance of Board partners working in different sectors coming together to enable this.

There was also discussion surrounding the increase in older age groups over the coming years, in particular those aged over 85 and the importance of planning for this to ensure the right care would be in place as needed.

The Board heard that the Covid vaccination programme was being planned to align wherever possible with the seasonal flu vaccinations and that partners were continually working together to encourage vaccination uptake in all age groups.

RESOLVED:

That the Health and Wellbeing Board:

      i.        Notes the progress on ‘Ageing Well’ partnership working over the last year and future plans.

    ii.        Notes the increasing demand arising and the complexity of our ageing Older Adults in general.

   iii.        Supports the launch of Live Longer Better programme communities of practice.

   iv.        Notes the variety of approaches across use of technology and partnership working to provide choices for older people in need of care and support to help them age well and maintain independence.

The Board considered the report providing an update on the refreshed Tobacco Control Strategy for Hampshire. It was noted that the purpose of the strategy was to outline Hampshire’s roadmap to achieving Smokefree status by 2030.

Members noted the significant progress so far in smoking cessation across Hampshire and agreed that the Hampshire Tobacco Control Alliance would bring together partners to help realise further achievements.

The Board discussed the issue of smoking among clinical professionals and those working in a medical setting and the perception that this created for patients. The County Council’s Public Health team offered to work further with NHS Trusts on this and it was highlighted that this formed part of a wider issue around supporting staff with their own health and wellbeing. Members noted the free smoking cessation support programmes in place for anyone working across Hampshire.

Members also discussed the impact of vaping and the difficulty between recognising vaping as a strategy to help stop smoking against the risks associated with vaping itself.

RESOLVED:

That the Health and Wellbeing Board:

      i.        Notes and supports the refreshed Tobacco Control Strategy for Hampshire - Smokefree 2030.

    ii.        Supports action to deliver on the Smokefree Hampshire 2030 strategic priorities, including building strong place-based partnerships to achieve our Smokefree ambition.

RESOLVED:

The Board received and noted the Forward Plan.