Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor R Bell and Chief Constable R Bacon, L Buckley, Dr J Carlton, D Dwarakanath, S Jacques, F Jassat, M Kelleher, M Laing and J Pearce.

There were the following Substitute Members:

Assistant Chief Constable R Allen for Chief Constable R Bacon; S Burns for L Buckley; M Wynne for D Dwarakanath; M Edwards for M Kelleher; and M Stenton for J Pearce.

There were no Declarations of Interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 November 2024 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Report and Presentation of the Interim Corporate Director of Adult and Health Services, Durham County Council.

The Board received a report and update presentation from the Interim Corporate Director of Adult and Health Services and Director of Public Health, presented by a number of speakers from the Council and partners, the Strategic Commissioning Manager, Sarah Douglas; the Chief Executive of the Pioneering Care Partnership, Carol Gaskarth; the Public Health Advanced Practitioner, Yusef Meah; Public Health Strategic Manager, Kirsty Wilkinson; and the Associate Director - MH/LD Partnerships and Strategy, Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV) and County Durham Care Partnership (CDCP), Jo Murray (for copy see file of minutes).

The Director of Public Health, A Healy reminded members that Mental Health, Wellbeing and Resilience was a top priority for the Health and Wellbeing Board and noted the strength in working with the voluntary and community sector (VCS) in County Durham to deliver services.  She added many organisations were in attendance at County Hall today, providing an opportunity for the Board to speak directly to those involved.

The Public Health Advanced Practitioner, Y Meah posed a series of questions to the Board relating to typical myths associated with mental health, namely: medication is the only effective treatment for mental illness – false; talking about mental health can help to reduce stigma – true; mental health can change over time depending on life circumstances – true; good mental health means never feeling sad, anxious or stressed – false.

He explained as the different approaches in terms of reducing the stigma around mental health, methods to help those experiencing mental health issues and actions one could take to help build resilience in terms of one’s mental health. 

The Public Health Advanced Practitioner reminded the Board that the Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy (JLHWS) had six key priorities: improving the mental health of children and young people; suicide prevention; developing robust system responses for urgent and emergency mental health care; develop and implement a consistent dementia strategy; resilient communities; deliver and embed new transformed models of care for adults with serious mental health issues.

The Public Health Strategic Manager, K Wilkinson explained she was the Lead for Children and Young People’s (CYP) Mental Health and Resilience since last year, and was also Chair of the CYP’s Mental Health Partnership.

She noted that nationally there was one in five CYP with a mental health condition, following COVID-19, being one in nine prior to the pandemic. 

She referred to figures for County Durham, noting 2,658 school pupils with social emotional or mental health needs; around 270 hospital admissions relating to self-harm of those aged 10 to 24; and 153 hospital admissions from people aged under 18 years old due to a mental health condition.  She explained that the majority of CYP in County Durham thrived and therefore it was important that work to help CYP ensured that they were able to continue to do so, and there were services in place to help those that were struggling.  The Board watched a video created by young people as part of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

For information only.

The Chair noted the report was attached to the agenda papers for Board Members’ information.

Resolved:

That the report be noted.

For information only.

The Chair noted the report was attached to the agenda papers for Board Members’ information.

Resolved:

That the report be noted.

The Partnerships Team Manager, Julie Bradbrook noted ongoing consultation in relation to Durham County Council’s Housing Allocations Policy, with information to be circulated to the Board in that regard.

Resolved:

That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

Report of the Director of Public Health, Durham County Council.

The Board considered a report of the Director of Public Health which

presented a summary of Pharmacy Applications received from NHS England in accordance with the NHS (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013 (for copy see file of minutes).

Resolved:

That the report be noted.

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