Agenda and minutes

To welcome all to the meeting, introduction and receive apologies.

The Chair welcomed all to the meeting and thanked staff from Stubblylee Community Greenhouses in Bacup for hosting the meeting and officers from the Public Health Team and Democratic Services for arranging the meeting.

Apologies were noted as above.

Replacements for the meeting were as follows:

County Councillor Jayne Rear for County Councillor Williamson, Lancashire County Council

Dave Carr for Edwina Grant OBE, Education and Children's Services, Lancashire County Council

Councillor Barbara Ashworth, Portfolio holder for Health and Leisure, Rossendale Borough Council and Health and Wellbeing Board member, representing East Lancashire, Lancashire Leaders Group also welcomed everyone to Rossendale on behalf of the host Authority.

Councillor Barbara Ashworth and Adam Allen, Director of Communities outlined the "Rossendale, Our Place, Our Wellbeing, Our Plan" which has been produced over the last 18 months.  The plan had been informed by what the people and partners in Rossendale had agreed was needed to make a difference to people's health and wellbeing, giving direction and focus as a united team for Rossendale.  It had been shaped by connecting, sharing ideas, experiences and passion and was the responsibility of everyone in Rossendale, to deliver it and make sure it achieves what it sets out to and to continue to improve things for the people and Rossendale. 

During Covid a group was formed called Rossendale Connected comprising people in the community, voluntary sector groups and individuals and it continues to meet now and has also been key to the plan. 

The plan is a working "community" document and will be reviewed every year.  It was suggested that other districts in Lancashire may wish to replicate what Rossendale has done in connecting the health and wellbeing landscape.  There is no funding attached to the plan, however the currency is genuine appreciation for community effort, sharing energy and inspiration with each other/sectors and networks, resources in terms of ideas, creativity and sharing buildings and spaces to have a better impact on communities.

Dr Sakthi Karunanithi expressed his gratitude and thanks to Rossendale for creating this plan and highlighting that money was not always important for improving health and wellbeing because enduring relationships are key.

County Councillor Green also congratulated Rossendale on the plan and hoped that this piece of work would be replicated in other areas across the County too.

Members of the Board are asked to consider any Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda.

There were no disclosures of interest in relation to items appearing on the agenda.

To agree the minutes of the previous meeting.

Resolved:  That the Board agreed the minutes of the meeting held on 25 January 2022.

There were no matters arising from them.

To note the NHS appointment to the role of Deputy Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board.

The Board were informed that as the NHS system was still evolving, an appointment of Deputy Chair had still not been made and that the appointment would be confirmed as soon as possible, with an update  at the next meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board on 10 May 2022.

Resolved:  That this item be deferred to the next meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board in May 2022.

To receive an update on the Healthy Hearts Strategy Development and agree ongoing system wide commitment and collaboration and to receive and endorse the refreshed Local Government Declaration on healthy weight.

Aidan Kirkpatrick, Consultant in Public Health and Alison Moore, Public Health Specialist, Lancashire County Council presented the report to the Board, which articulated the pressing need for the development of a Lancashire wide Healthy Hearts strategy. It  outlined the strategic intent and proposed key recommendations to the Health and Wellbeing Board, seeking  a mandate for this work and ensure system wide buy-in.

The Board was reminded that the report aligned with the recent commitment to prioritise Healthy Hearts and also with the Government's 'Levelling Up' agenda; that by 2030 the gap in Healthy Life Expectancy between local areas where it is highest and lowest would have narrowed and that by 2035 Healthy Life Expectancy would rise by five years. 

The latter policy intervention was particularly pertinent for Lancashire given not only the wide variations in both Life Expectancy and Healthy Life Expectancy across Lancashire; but also crucially the fact that when considering the expectancy gap between the most and least deprived quintiles of Lancashire, just over 24% of this gap was attributed to circulatory disease related mortality (ahead of all other causes of death).

The Board recognised that cardiovascular disease has a strong impact on life expectancy, and the Healthy Hearts Programme, based on a Best Practice Framework, will help address this.

The Board were informed that arrangements were underway for a workshop later in March to scope out how best to further develop the Healthy Hearts Strategy and associated work programmes.  This would help to build upon a range of emerging national targets related to cardiovascular disease.

Robin Ireland, Food Active was welcomed to the Board and supported discussion about the Healthy Weight Declaration (Appendix A) . Food Active is a North-West based charity and so far, across England, 26 Councils have adopted the Healthy Weight Declaration.  Lancashire County Council initially signed the Health Weight Declaration in 2017, however, during 2020 the 16 commitments as detailed in Appendix A were reviewed and refreshed.

The Board were also asked to note that an event was being planned towards the end of June 2022 around Healthy Weight to consider policies that can be adopted at district level.

Following the presentation, the following points were raised:

The Board was asked about emotional wellbeing  and mental health in young people, and whether there were any lessons to be learnt as the strategy is taken forward. The Board was informed that the plan was to start to explore across the teams where insight and learning could be sought from residents. To start the process, discussions have been taking place with teams across Lancashire and it is crucial to get the perception of the programme right.  Across the networks, they need to be directing residents to programmes that are already in place, working together to increase the numbers of participators and improve the quality of the programmes. It was also noted that there should be a family approach and have a variety of delivery to try and attract people to take part  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To receive an update from the Health Equity Commission and endorse the leadership role of the Health and Wellbeing Board in promoting a system wide health equity approach across Lancashire.

This item was deferred due to apologies.

To confirm the Chairs approval, given under delegated powers, to the Lancashire Better Care Plan for 2021/22.

Paul Robinson, Senior Programme Manager, NHS Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit presented the report on the Lancashire Better Care Fund Pan 2021/2022 to the Board.  The report provides a high-level view of the plan and further details, and background are available in the appendices attached to the agenda.

The Better Care Fund (BCF) programme began in 2015 and Lancashire has had in place Better Care Fund (BCF) plans since, based upon a clear governance structure and planning process. The Health and Wellbeing Board has received regular updates and engaged, in its role as the Better Care Fund (BCF) accountable body.

The Board noted that the process had been changed over the last two years during the pandemic, as resources needed to be refocussed and the Better Care Fund (BCF) had continued but in a more discreet manner.  It had provided some basis for accelerated collaborative working and services funded through it had been at the core of supporting NHS and social care systems to respond to the pandemic.  Such was the position in 2020/21 that no Better Care Fund (BCF) plans were produced nationally in year, however, activity reflected end of year reporting.

In 2021/22 planning had been delayed, however, through partner collaboration, the plan has been produced and presented to the Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board previously and was being presented to the Board for full consideration. This had allowed consolidation and clarity that would support the Better Care Fund (BCF) going forward and on a much wider scale the delivery of the Intermediate Care Programme for which it is an enabler.

The Board was informed that in order to enable the completion of the national assurance process, the Chair of the Board had approved the plan having consulted Board members through email and received no comments to the contrary.

The report provides a high-level view of the plan. Detail and background are available in the appended briefing and background papers.

The 2021/22 Better Care Fund (BCF) Policy Framework indicated that the Better Care Fund (BCF) would continue into 2022/23 and this was further confirmed in the NHS 2022/23 priorities and operational planning guidance and in the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement. No further detail is currently available.

Following the presentation, the following issues/points were raised:

A query was raised as to how Lancashire had performed after spending £166.48 million of the Better Care Funding for 2021/2022.  It was reported that it had been a well-directed spend across the system and that the system has worked better with barriers being broken down and due to this, should be able to demonstrate success, although further analysis is required.

Paul Robinson informed the Board that guidance for the end of year report had  not been received yet.

It was felt that the voluntary sector should continue to be fully engaged.

The Board also noted that the plan had undergone national assurance.

Resolved:  The Health and Wellbeing Board:

i)  Confirmed the Chair of Lancashire Health and Wellbeing Board's  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

An item of Urgent Business may only be considered under this heading, where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the minutes, the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.  Wherever possible, the Chief Executive should be given advance warning of any Members' intention to raise a matter under this heading.

There was no urgent business received.

It is proposed that the next scheduled meeting of the Board will be held at 2pm on 10 May 2022 in at a venue to be confirmed in West Lancashire.

The next scheduled meeting of the Board will be held on Tuesday, 10 May 2022 at 2pm at a venue in West Lancashire.