Agenda item

To consider an update on the Westminster Health and Wellbeing Strategy Refresh.

4.1       The Chairman introduced the item and emphasised that the strategy refresh was particularly critical in terms of the need for it to feed into NHS England’s five year Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP). Members then received a detailed presentation from Philippa Mardon (Interim Deputy Director, NHS Central London Clinical Commissioning Group), Meenara Islam (Principal Policy Officer) and Phoebe Morris-Smith (Policy Officer). The Board heard that the strategy identified North West London as its ‘place’ and there would be close collaboration, co-design and co-development of services between the Board and its partner organisations. The strategy was to be considered in the context of the Council’s City for All vision, the STP, devolution of health services at pan London and North West London levels, and population changes which would influence the disease burden.

4.2       In terms of the strategy’s direction of travel, Members noted that prevention and a whole systems approach would be taken and the Board was to have greater system leadership to ensure that the strategy was being developed. The strategy was to remain consistent with the national vision for health and wellbeing. A population group approach was also to be taken with life stage and health status helping to identify those groups that should be prioritised and the appropriate action taken. Robust evidence also needed to be collected and this would be achieved through measures such as deep drive joint strategic needs assessments and the primary care modelling project. Both health sector intelligence and community sector intelligence, such as from Healthwatch, would also be used to gather relevant data and the evidence base was expected to be completed by the end of March. Members were informed that use of technology would be maximised to help move services forward, such as GPs using Skype to talk to patients, and it was recognised that a large segment of the population wanted to use technology in accessing services.

4.3       Meenara Islam then drew Members’ attention to the timetable for completing the strategy refresh as circulated at the meeting. There were three phases to completing the refresh, with phase 1, evidence analysis and theme development, largely completed. Phase 2 would seek to agree and finalise content themes and priorities and provide targeted engagement with a view to producing the first draft of the strategy refresh for the next Board meeting on 26 May. During the course of phase 2, a Health and Wellbeing Board workshop would take place on 5 April and a stakeholders meeting, including service users and patient groups, on 13 April. Phase 3 would involve consultation on the draft strategy and culminate in the publication for the final strategy refresh which was due in mid-October or early November.

4.4       During discussion, the Chairman acknowledged that the timescales for completing the strategy refresh were tight, however this was due to it having to also meet the STP deadlines. She emphasised that phase 2 was particularly critical in developing the strategy refresh and advised that the evidence base would be available before the Health and Wellbeing Board workshop. In noting that the strategy refresh’s link to NHS England’s STPs, a Member emphasised the importance in ensuring that the Westminster voice was heard. Another Member commented that the long term future for carers should be mentioned in phase 2 of the strategy refresh. In respect of drug and alcohol services, he acknowledged that there were budgets for these for both the NHS and Public Health. However, Public Health was not bound by the same consultation requirements as the NHS and he felt that it was desirable that the Public Health consultation be reasonably similar. He also suggested that Queens Park Community Council be approached in respect of providing intelligence from the community sector.

4.5       A Member acknowledged that sound self-management was fundamental to the success in delivering services. She felt that the strategy refresh lacked setting out the significant role that voluntary and community organisations could play in helping to deliver services. Whilst NHS West London Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) did engage with voluntary and community organisations, she felt that there was room for improvement for NHS Central London CCG in this area.

4.6       In reply to the issues raised, Philippa Mardon advised that the tri-boroughs and the CCGs were both working together and separately in terms of developing health and wellbeing strategies. The Chairman advised that three priorities needed to be submitted in respect of the STP by 24 March. However, this presented an opportunity for the Westminster voice to be heard and in order to achieve this, a strong and robust piece of work with significant engagement was required. The Chairman reiterated that Members should take into consideration the challenging timescales and she emphasised the importance of attending the health and wellbeing workshop. Meenara Islam agreed to circulate details of the proposals discussed at an engagement plan meeting involving Council and CCG colleagues.