Issue - meetings

The Board considered a report from the Director of Public Health, which provided an update on the development of the One Halton and Health and Wellbeing Board Strategy.

It was noted that Halton’s previous Health and Wellbeing Board Strategy covered the period 2017 – 2022.  Developments within the NHS had led to the creation of One Halton, and as a partnership approach it was agreed that a shared Strategy be adopted. 

The report outlined the development of the Strategy, the consultation process, priorities identified and its four underlying themes – tackling the wider determinants of health; supporting communities in starting well; supporting communities in living well; and supporting communities in ageing well.  There were two year goals and five year goals for each of the themes; details of these were outlined in the accompanying presentation. 

The Strategy identified important system priorities and a strategic framework that would be used to develop a delivery plan.

The following additional information was provided in response to Members questions:

·         The two Family Hubs had now been established – one in Kingsway which was already open and one in Brookvale Community Centre, which was due to open in the Autumn 2023;

·         The inclusion of people with disabilities and special needs would form part of the Strategy which would support partnership work with other agencies.  The Strategy would challenge agencies to ensure that this cohort was supported with entering the jobs market for example;

·         An observation was made by one Member that this type of strategy had been done before without success – and that this was the same but under another name;

·         Observation made with regards to life expectancy and the disparity between Wards in Halton being a challenge; and

·         At the time of starting the Strategy the health statistics of the population were not known due to Covid and the impact it had on data collection, where data was simply not collected by clinicians during 2021-22 when services were closed.

RESOLVED:  That the report and presentation be received.