Agenda item

The Board received a report, previously circulated within the agenda pack, from Dr de Gruchy. A draft copy of the Health and Wellbeing strategy and an accompanying presentation was also tabled. Ms De Gruchy talked through the presentation and both reports and then summarised the key points.

Dr de Gruchy outlined the wider context of the strategy and the HWB Strategy refresh programme. It was noted that the refresh programme was agreed by the HWB in May 2014 and included reviewing the Joint Strategic Needs assessment (JSNA). The program also included setting up a range of key stakeholder group meetings and setting up workshop survey focus groups of voluntary sector stakeholders set up by HAVCO and Healthwatch and some of this work was included in the wider Council budget consultation for the Council’s Corporate Plan. These measures were then integrated to facilitate an understanding of areas where we need to take a strong strategic lead.

Dr de Gruchy then gave a brief overview of the outcomes identified in the strategy and a summary of the highs and lows. It was noted that:

·         Outcome 1 was to give every child the best start in life and that the key points were: A reduction in teenage pregnancy (but was still high compared to London and nationally); a reduction in infant mortality (but was still high compared to London and nationally); one in three children lived in poverty; childhood obesity was high and tooth decay in children has worsened.

·         Outcome 2 was to increase healthy life expectancy. The key points were: Life expectancy was improving generally, especially for men. But men died younger than women primarily due to early death from heart disease and stroke); the inequality gap for men (8 years) and women (about three years) has remained constant over the last 10 years; on average, women lived the last 20 years of their lives in poor health which was worse than London and national average and the number of people with dementia and long term conditions was increasing.

Dr de Gruchy outlined that analysis of demographics around life expectancy was increasingly focused on ‘healthy life expectancy’. A graph included in the presentation slides showed the average life expectancy and average healthy life expectancy against an index of deprivation levels. It was commented that in the most deprived areas long term poor health started to develop around age 53 and this was increased to around age 70 for the most affluent areas. 

·         Outcome 3 was improving mental health and emotional wellbeing and the key points were: Recorded crime was down 40%, partially due to a downward trend in drug use; there was an increased national focus on mental health; there were high numbers of children with behavioural problems; a high level of people suffering from anxiety and depression who were not receiving help and a high level of people with severe mental illness across the borough.

Dr de Gruchy commented that this showed that there are still a number of ongoing challenges in these major areas as these were long term major issues and that these issues had by no means been resolved in the three year lifespan of the previous strategy.  The same issues remained key for the borough going forward. Dr de Gruchy also commented that the context for the strategy going forward is that the Health and Wellbeing Board has grown in strength and now benefits from some much stronger partnership working. In terms of the future role of the Health and Wellbeing Board, Dr de Gruchy noted that the potential for Haringey is huge and that the Board should be considering how to capitalise on regeneration and other opportunities in the borough to deliver the biggest health improvements for residents. Dr de Gruchy advocated that the new strategy needed to be ambitious and to find synergies with some of the other key corporate priorities. 

It was noted that the three month consultation on the draft strategy was being launched that day and an easy read version was to be developed. The consultation process would involve a consultation on the overall priorities as well as consultation activity on each of the three individual priorities.  Delivery plans would also be developed throughout the consultation period. Dr Jeanelle de Gruchy noted that the Health and Wellbeing Strategy and high level delivery plans would be brought back for approval to the Health and Wellbeing Board in June.

Dr de Gruchy asked the Board to give their opinions on the strategy and in particular sought their input on the purpose of the strategy and the role of the Health and Wellbeing Board. Opinions were also sought on what the role of partners was and finally, how ambitious did the HWB want to be – should there have been some headline ambitions stated at the end of the strategy?

The Chair asked that a discussion on the above points and on the strategy as a whole was delayed until the next meeting of the Board in order to do it justice given that the meeting was due to finish very shortly.  

It was:

RESOLVED:

1. That the start of a three month public consultation on the draft Health and Wellbeing Strategy be noted.

2. The Health and Wellbeing Strategy and high level delivery plans be presented to the Health and Wellbeing Board in June 2015 for approval; and.

3. That a discussion topic on the Health and Wellbeing Strategy be a scheduled for consideration at the Health and Wellbeing Board on 24 March 2015.