Agenda item

The Committee received a report which outlined the work carried out which had been led and supported by the Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) during 2021-22 which had impacted positively on the strategic priorities detailed in the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2021-25 (JHWS). Members of the Children and Young People’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee were invited for this item (for copy see file of minutes).

J Bradbrook, Partnerships Team Manager and M Laing, Director of Integrated Community Services, County Durham Care Partnership gave a detailed presentation explaining that the vision of the HWB was to ‘make County Durham a healthy place where people live well, for longer’ and that this would be achieved through three strategic priorities in JHWS:

·      Starting well

·      Living well

·      Ageing well

The Partnerships Team Manager confirmed that this was the seventh Health and Wellbeing Board Annual Report, which outlined the key achievements of the Board during its ninth year of operation. The last HWB annual report was produced for 2018/19, there were no reports produced for 2019/20 or 2020/21 due to pressures of the pandemic response. The Director of Integrated Community Services confirmed that from 1 July 2022, County Durham became part of the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB).

Considering the change of system to the ICB, Councillor Earley asked if there were any risks in terms of resources and deployment. The Director of Integrated Community Services confirmed that there were risks and that these were being managed the best that they could. He explained that the new ICB was introduced within a short period of six months and covered 13 Local Authority areas and which were all different in operation. He stressed it was vital to continually engage with the ICB to ensure that the Board understand the local dimension as what worked for one area would not necessarily work for another. 

The Chair expressed her concern with regards to funding and hoped that the ICB would not only deliver the current level of service but offer the opportunity to improve further. The Director of Integrated Community Services commented that the ICB were being supportive, but that it was important for progression to be aligned with what members wanted and stressed the need for positive advocates.

Councillor Quinn commented how positive it was to see Covid-19 community champions referenced within the report. She was proud to be a Champion herself and hoped that this would continue.

The Principal Overview and Scrutiny Officer advised that the JHWS would be refreshed in 2023 and it was necessary for Adults, Wellbeing and Health (AWH) and Children and Young People’s (CYP) Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) to feed into the strategy. He advised that the item would be included on the agenda for the meeting of CYP OSC on 26 April 2023 and members of the AWH OSC would be invited to attend this meeting.

Councillor Varty asked if organisations were commissioned to go out to the homes of elderly residents and asked how often the quality of the service provided was checked. Sarah Burns, Joint Head of Integrated Strategic Commissioning, North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board emphasised that quality assurance was critical and explained that a range of methods had been implemented to assess the service provided. Councillor Varty asked if it was possible to discuss this topic further outside of the meeting. Sarah Burns agreed to do so.

Councillor Higgins emphasised how well the integrated team had worked together and noted the great preventative work. He expressed his thanks to all members of the integrated team in County Durham for the work that they do. The Director of Integrated Community Services confirmed that he would pass on Councillor Higgins thanks to the team.

Co-opted member A Stobbart referred to the information in the report regarding housing and health. She advised that she worked for Believe Housing and that County Durham had 45,000 properties which were social housing properties and noted the challenges with maintaining older properties. She asked for clarification on what the housing and health element of the HWB did and whether more could be done with social housing providers. The Director of Integrated Community Services stressed that housing was vitally important to prevent ill health and to help people recover, and whilst a lot of work was currently being done with housing partners, he believed that there was still more that could be done. Sarah Burns, Joint Head of Integrated Strategic Commissioning, North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board explained that there was a Housing and Health Group that met quarterly with housing providers in County Durham which considered joint initiatives, and she advised that the Group were aware of the work that was required with private landlords including selective licensing.

In response to a question from the Chair, the Director of Public Health explained that housing was part of the HWB and there was an opportunity for housing to be reinvigorated and that selective licensing would help with this. She noted that fuel poverty and energy costs were a priority and advised that additional funding had been secured for County Durham to tackle housing and homelessness as this was also an area of concern and agreed to share the statistics regarding this.

The Joint Head of Integrated Strategic Commissioning, North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board explained that it was important for all services within the integrated team to make the necessary referrals, for example, ensuring that the energy supply is not switched off for residents who are dependent on energy or medically dependent on equipment.

The Director of Integrated Community Services noted that the County Durham and Care Partnership Forum had housing as their major topic and offered to share the slides from the meeting with Members of the Committee. He advised that in some cases, housing providers were the first service to become aware of a health or safeguarding concern. He confirmed that they were working closely with the ICB to ensure that there was enough resource in County Durham to assure quality.

In terms of safeguarding, Co-opted Member A Stobbart explained that within her line of work, a specific team was created to address the increased number of vulnerable people presenting themselves and that satisfaction surveys were completed with these people and referrals made to the relevant services where necessary.

Councillor Quinn noted that homeowners should not be forgotten, particularly those that were elderly. The Director of Integrated Community Services agreed that this was important and advised that people who were frail were provided with good care when in care homes, but if living in large family houses, did not always receive the correct level of nursing care. He confirmed that the next area of development was to consider care for frail people within their own homes.

Resolved

The Committee noted the work that took place in 2021-22 by the Health and Wellbeing Board.