To receive updates from the Executive Member and Council Officerson:
(i) the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment
(ii) progress in implementing the Health and Wellbeing Strategy
(iii) the outcome of the Peer review of the Health and Wellbeing Board.
Minutes:
Dr Lisa McNally, Consultant in Public Health, presented to the Panel an update on the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) for Bracknell Forest for which a full refresh had just been completed. The refresh had resulted in the inclusion of new data, new topics (eg. Workplace Health) and it would form the basis of the needs analysis for the Health & Wellbeing Strategy.
While the JSNA contained the priorities and key health data for the Borough, the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy, which had also recently been updated and refreshed, set out actions proposed to meet the needs. These had been arranged under four main themes: Active and Healthy Lifestyles; Mental Health in Children and Young People; Tackling Social Isolation; and Workforce Development.
Highlights from the JSNA included the emphasis given to the regular issue and updating of public health news, disseminated as widely as possible by a variety of means. The Bracknell Forest Year of Self Care had been a great success, with notable achievements in helping people back to fitness, decreasing the percentage of inactive adults, a significant increase in weight loss among residents and a decrease in falls related admissions. This success had been recognised via the national self care award and the Bracknell approach had been taken up and replicated in a number of other areas.
Good progress had been made in the area of children’s mental health through involving the children themselves in putting forward their thoughts on the care and support they needed. More children were ready to talk about the issues they faced; there was a decrease in the number of referrals being made to CAMHS; and KOOTH, the free online support for young people, was proving to be a really helpful resource offering an immediate response to those choosing to contact it (236 users during the last quarter).
Work to combat social isolation aimed to go further than simply encouraging befriending by re-introducing the links between an individual and the community. This included joint work with Involve and the development of community assets to increase their reach and engagement.
The presentation went on to outline details of the recent Health and Wellbeing Board Peer Challenge, facilitated by an experienced team led by the LGA. There had been really good engagement from the Council and its partners and although there were lot of positive conclusions, a number of areas had been identified for further work and development. In particular, a culture shift in the way the Health and Wellbeing Board operated would lead to it being better at facilitating effective joint working between partners rather than acting as just a decision making or scrutinising body. There was a need to get back to basics, improve partnership working and achieve buy-in. The Panel received answers to a number of questions about how this was to be achieved and noted a forthcoming development session on how the Board could evolve key aspects of it work and Strategy, followed by subsequent topic-focussed sessions on key areas.
The Panel thanked Dr McNally for the presentation and looked forward to receiving an update on progress in due course.