Hampshire County Council Health and Wellbeing Board Meeting

Apologies were received from:

·         Donna Jones, Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner (Luke Stubbs Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner attended as substitute)  

·         Ann Smith, Healthwatch Hampshire (substitute for Healthwatch a vacancy)

·         Dr Barbara Rushton, Vice Chairman

·         Mary O’Brien, NHS England

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 7 October 2021 were reviewed and agreed.

The Committee received two deputations regarding the Forward Plan item on the agenda.

Teresa Skelton

Commented on the need for the Board to look into mental health services in Hampshire, alleging that there were issues with Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust in how it deals with patient complaints and that the Trust were not engaging in co-production which the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy supports.

Geoff Hill

Commented on the need for the Board to have adult mental health on the forward plan, to look into issues at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, including a recent case where one inpatient killed another while under their care.

The Chairman invited the Director of Public Health to comment on recent developments regarding the Covid-19 pandemic. The Director of Public Health reported that the government had announced the previous evening that Plan B would be invoked due to the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 and therefore new measures would be coming in over the next few days.

The Chairman highlighted that the Annual Adults’ Safeguarding Report for the Adults Health and Care Department for 2020-21 had been circulated to Board members by email on 1st December 2021.  

The Chairman also reported that the Annual Community Safety Strategy Group Report was also circulated to Board Members on 1st December. 

The Chairman noted that an update on the Hampshire and Frimley Integrated Care Systems was circulated to Board Members on 23rd November 2021.

The Chairman reported that the Logo for the Board had been agreed and was shown in the agenda pack under Item 5. The Chairman thanked the Communications and Engagement team for the design, and Board Members for their feedback on the options. 

The Chairman announced that Alex Whitfield had agreed to be the Board Sponsor for the Dying Well theme, replacing Dr Bibawy who stood down from the Board in the summer. 

The Chairman invited the Director of Adults Health and Care and Director of Childrens Services to provide an update on support to Afghan refugees and asylum seekers. It was reported that 35 families were currently being supported across 3 hotels in Hampshire and work was ongoing to identify accommodation for them. To date 29 properties had been offered and 20 taken up. Funding had been received from the government to provide support for 3 years. School places had been secured for all Afghan refugee children of school age and pre-school places from the spring.

The Independent Chair of the Hampshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (HSCP) presented the annual report of the HSCP covering the period April 2020 to March 2021 (see Item 6 in the Minute Book). It was reported that there had been good information sharing between organisations during the pandemic to safeguard the vulnerable.

Following questions, Board Members heard:

·         Each Local Authority area has it’s own Safeguarding Children Board so there was a separate one for Portsmouth and Southampton, however there was also a pan Hampshire group that had oversight of issues across Hampshire

·         It was a priority issue to consider safeguarding of children excluded from school and ‘off the radar’ of statutory services. It was estimated there were 100,000 ‘ghost children’ across the UK, it was unknown how many were likely in Hampshire

·         Vulnerable children had been offered the opportunity to attend school in person during the pandemic or home visits. Hampshire had one of the highest percentages of vulnerable children attending school during the report period

RESOLVED:

The Health and Wellbeing Board note the content of the report.

A representative of the Hampshire Southampton & Isle of Wight Clinical Commissioning Group gave a presentation to summarise the report regarding the refresh of the Joint Hampshire and Isle of Wight Children & Young People Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing Local Transformation Plan (see Item 7 in the Minute Book).

It was reported that waiting times for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) had come down by 34% as a result of increased investment. A scheme of community grants to support services such as youth counselling was due to launch in the coming weeks. Offering remote appointments during the pandemic had improved ‘did not attend’ rates. Both face to face and digital options were offered, and feedback had been in favour of a mixed model.

RESOLVED:

That the Hampshire Health and Wellbeing Board note the 2021 refresh of the Hampshire Children and Young People’s Mental Health Local Transformation Plan, the improvements in capacity, quality, reach and timeliness of service access it describes, and how this will achieve a better mental health offer for children and young people across the county, in line with the priorities of the Hampshire Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

The Director of Public Health gave a presentation to provide an update on a workshop that had taken place since the last Board meeting regarding the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (see Item 8 in the Minute Book). It was reported that looking at mental health had been a high priority for those in attendance and considering the impact of long covid. It was noted that a further workshop was planned in the new year.

RESOLVED:

That the Hampshire Health and Wellbeing Board consider the update and support and take forward the workshop outcomes.

Representatives of the Director of Adults’ Health and Care and the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care System gave a presentation to summarise the report regarding the Hampshire Integration and Better Care Fund Plan for 2021-22 (see Item 9 in the Minute Book). The presentation confirmed investment from the Better Care Fund had been focused on out of hospital care.

It was noted that integration of health and care continued to evolve, with the recently published health and care white paper signalling ambitions for the next ten years. This paper included funding for housing due to the link between housing and health.  

RESOLVED:

That the Hampshire Health and Wellbeing Board:

1.    Note the approach to the 2021/22 Better Care Planning requirements.

2.    Note that due to a mismatch between national planning requirements and local Health and Wellbeing Board arrangements, Chair’s action was invoked to enable submission within required timescales.

Representatives from Public Health gave a presentation to summarise the report regarding the refresh of the Hampshire Healthy Weight Strategy (see Item 10 in the Minute Book). It was reported that the latest data showed 60% of adults were overweight, 30% of children at year 6 and 20% of reception age, and in many cases weight had got worse over the pandemic. Following the strategy refresh it was planned to hold an Action Planning workshop in January 2022 and a community engagement plan in February 2022.

RESOLVED:

The Hampshire Health and Wellbeing Board:

1.    Note the current status of the Hampshire Healthy Weight Strategy

2.    Acknowledge the relevance of this Strategy to improve the health and wellbeing of the residents of Hampshire and alignment with the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy and other relevant strategies and policies

3.    Endorse the strategy and commit to contributing to the development and implementation of the action plan

The Board Manager presented the Forward Plan of items scheduled to come to future meetings of the Health and Wellbeing Board (see Item 11 in the Minute Book). The Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service representative requested that the draft Community Services Strategy being developed by H&IOW FRS be discussed at the next Board meeting in March. This was agreed.

RESOLVED:

The Forward Plan was noted.