Agenda and minutes

            The Minutes of the meeting held on 5^th July 2017 having been circulated were signed as a correct record.

            The Board received a presentation from Sue Wallace Bonner, Director of Adult Social Services, on Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) recent Local System Review (LSR) of Health and Social Care in Halton. During the summer, CQC were commissioned by the Secretaries of State for Health and Communities and Local Government to undertake a programme of targeted system reviews in 12 Local Authority areas; Halton was selected as the first area of one of these LSR’s.

            It was noted that the LSR’s were aimed at looking at how people moved between health and social care, including delayed transfers of care, with a particular focus on people over 65 years old. The reviews included an assessment of commissioning across the interface of health and social care, of the governance systems and processes in place in respect of management of resources.

            The Board noted that the CQC spent 7 days in Halton carrying out various visits, held a series of focus groups, undertook case tracking and conducted a variety of interviews. A written report on the outcome of the review was received by the Authority on 22^nd September and the series of findings, together with areas highlighted for improvement were outlined to the Board.

            RESOLVED: That the presentation be noted.

            This item was deferred to a future meeting.

            The Board considered a copy of the Public Health Annual Report (PHAR) 2016/17.  Each year a theme was chosen for the PHAR. For 2016/17 the PHAR focussed on the health of women and girls in Halton. This topic was chosen as female health was not improving at the same rate as male health. It was also chosen to highlight key topics pertinent to female health and issues local women and girls believed to be the most significant areas for their health.

            RESOLVED: That the contents of the report be noted and the recommendations be supported.

            The Board considered a report of the Director of Adult Services, which provided information on the Better Care Fund (BCF) 2017 – 19 submission. The submission built upon the work undertaken in previous years, reviewed the BCF Plan 2016/17, reported on the integrated plan of action and outlined how the Plan would meet each national condition.

            The Department of Health and NHS England, in partnership with the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, were keen to see progress in the 2017/19 submission of various schemes and system changes that would support the key metrics. Therefore, in order to streamline the process, NHS England had reduced the amount of performance metrics that required reporting to four:

·         Management of delayed Transfers of Care;

·         Non-elective admissions to hospital;

·         Admissions to residential and nursing are homes; and

·         Number of people who were still at home 91 days after discharge from hospital (reablement).

             RESOLVED: That the report noted the content of the report and the associated documents.

            The Board considered a report of the Director of Public Health, which presented the final draft of the Halton Tobacco Control Plan – A Smokefree Future. It was reported that in Halton good progress had been made in reducing the harm smoking caused with fewer young people starting to smoke and a smaller number of adults now smoking. The number of people in Halton who smoked had reduced significantly from around 30% in 2001 to 16.6% in 2016. However, it was noted that more work was needed and the following considerable challenges still remained:

·         Smoking rates in Halton were higher than for England as a whole.

·         Smoking was the leading cause of preventable death and disease in Halton and was one of the most significant causes of ill health, particularly due to cancer, coronary heart disease and respiratory disease.

·         Smoking was the primary reason for the gap in life expectancy between rich and poor in our communities.

·         Smoking rates were high among some social groups for example routine and manual workers, those with a mental health condition, pregnant women, those with long term health conditions and those with drug and alcohol addictions

·         Smoking costs the local Halton economy £37.9 million each year. This was considerably more than was generated through tobacco duty (£17.2 million) per year.

            The Halton Tobacco Control Plan recognised the scale of Halton’s tobacco challenge and offered systematic plans to tackle it in response to both national and local requirements. The Plan built upon the effective work that had been undertaken by partners locally and had been written in collaboration with all partners agreeing to the vision, outcomes and actions. The Plan would be monitored by the Halton Tobacco Alliance and outcomes would be reported to the Healthy Lifestyles Board, Health and Wellbeing Board and all other relevant bodies.

            RESOLVED: That

1.    the contents of the report be noted; and

2.    the strategy outcomes, objectives and actions.

            The Board received a report of the Director of Public Health, which presented the annual Flu Plan. The Plan included an overview of the annual seasonal influenza vaccination campaign for the 2017/18 flu season and implications of this for the local health and social care partner agencies. Details of the uptake of flu vaccination in Halton for previous years were outlined in the report.

            It was noted that the main changes to the programme this year was to extend the offer of flu vaccination to children of school year 4 and the transfer of responsibility for the vaccination of 4 years olds from GP practice to school providers. Within Halton Council, the programme to vaccinate staff would be extended from front line staff Health and Social Care staff to include an offer to care home and domiciliary care agency staff.

            RESOLVED: That

1.    the content of the Annual Flu Plan and the changes to the national flu vaccination programme for 2017-18 be noted; and

2.    each individual agency note their requirements in relation to the programme.

            The Board considered a report which detailed the Halton Integrated Cold Weather Plan. The Plan highlighted the local public health plan to prepare for, alert people and prevent major avoidable effects during severe cold weather episodes.

            Members were advised that the Plan linked with severe weather plans within Halton CCG and key provider organisations. It aimed to capture the work that was undertaken by the Council with regard to prevention and awareness activity for cold weather. In addition, it detailed the cascade arrangements for the cold weather alerts that were received from the Met Office as part of the Cold Weather Plan for England and the actions that would be carried out by the Council as each of these levels were triggered.

            RESOLVED: That the content of the Integrated Cold Weather Plan be noted.

            The Board considered a copy of the Healthwatch Halton Annual Report 2016/17. The report highlighted initiatives which had taken place in 2016/17, governance arrangements, future plans for the next twelve months, finances and the role of Healthwatch in the community.

            RESOLVED: That the Healthwatch Halton Annual Report 2016/17 be noted.