Issue - meetings

Report of the Joint Director of Public Health, Haringey Teaching Primary Care Trust and Haringey Council, to update the Committee of the findings of the Tackling Health Inequalities audit report and of actions taken to address the recommendations made in the report.

Eugenia Cronin, Joint Director of Public Health, Haringey Teaching Primary Care Trust and Haringey Council, presented this report on the findings of the Tackling Health Inequalities audit report and actions taken to address the recommendations made in the report. The Committee considered the action plan in detail. In response to a question from the Chair, it was confirmed that, although CEMB had not submitted any further comments within the time limit for the report going to Audit Committee, the report incorporated all the comments made by CEMB at its meeting.

In response to concern expressed by the Committee at the complexity of the structures in place to address health inequalities, it was reported that it was necessary for the structure to address the breadth of the public health agenda, and that the structure of the sub-bodies reflected the different outcome areas. The Committee asked about the focus of the health inequalities agenda, and how all the different structures contributed towards this overall vision. It was reported that the structure of the different committees was designed to address the different targets relating to health inequalities. Life expectancy was identified as a key target, and it was reported that there was a specific life expectancy action plan, pulling together the work of the different committees, which could be presented to the Audit Committee for further discussion.

The Committee asked how the action plan would address issues relating to health inequalities at an in-depth level. The Joint Director of Public Health reported that the phase 2 of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment would address these issues in depth, and would include areas such as looking at ways to use data more effectively to better understand the mobile population and their specific needs. The Committee suggested that a greater level of detail and data regarding specific projects should be included in the audit framework, so that performance could be more easily assessed, and it was agreed that this suggestion would be fed back to Grant Thornton, the Council’s external auditors. The Committee also suggested that greater engagement with service users be explored, as they would be able to provide information on practicalities.

The Committee was advised that there was a health inequalities event being held on 25 November 2008, convened by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, and that this would be an opportunity for members to explore these issues further.

The Committee welcomed the attendance of the Joint Director of Public Health, and thanked her for the report. The Committee considered the report presented by officers in respect of the recommendations made by the Council’s external auditors, Grant Thornton, and it was:

RESOLVED

i) That the content of the Tackling Health Inequalities Audit Report and action plan be noted.

ii) That, in addition to noting the report, the following comments be expressed to the Cabinet, since health matters affect all individual residents and stakeholders, and the Local Authority has a key community leadership role in this area:

·                    That practical, value for money, steps be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53