Agenda item

Chris Burgin (Director of Housing, Leicester City Council) will present an update on the positive progress which has been made towards addressing the significant health and service challenges which are faced by complex tenants, and the development of a cross-agency working group, since bringing this issue to the Health and Wellbeing Board in January 2023.

Chris Burgin (Director of Housing, Leicester City Council) presented a slide-deck update on the progress which had been made towards addressing the significant health and service challenges which are faced by complex tenants since bringing this issue to the Health & Wellbeing Board in January 2023. It was noted that:

·         Previous presentation to the Board on 26.1.23 had resulted in the setting up of a Joint Agency Working Group. This has now met three times and Chris Burgin, as Chair, had been impressed by the collective intelligence and passion of the members.

·         The group used the Changing Futures platform to co-ordinate a system-change and embed the new practices. Each output of the Action Plan had a named lead.

·         When the group met initially there were some clients that were not known to all members – so a data trawl was undertaken to collect information to use to register the cohort through Changing Futures. This allowed these clients to be supported on an intensive basis.

·         Public Health had undertaken a Joint Service Needs Assessment (JSNA) which was almost completed; this will give added evidence and intelligence to enable further development of an Action Plan and strengthening of pathways.

·         Mark Pierce (ICB) had been heading an investigation into why outpatients do not attend appointments. 

·         Wayne Henderson at Inclusion Healthcare had been leading on the primary care aspects of the workstream.

·         It was envisaged that the JSNA will indicate the need for non-general housing – and may show that the 20,000 current Council homes are not suitable for certain people with complex needs. There was an appetite for mental health/drugs/alcohol support to be included as part of the housing offer to those tenants.

·         Public Health were leading on a piece of work to prevent people from becoming homeless via early prevention alongside partners.

·         The Board were thanked for setting this work in motion – and thanks were passed on to everyone who involved in the Working Groups.

Comments and questions from the Board:-

-       The Chair asked that some case studies be brought to the Board to better demonstrate the impact of this work on individuals and the system as a whole. One example had been an individual, who previously attended A&E twice a week, who was now registered with a GP and only attended the practice once a month.

-       Councillor Cutkelvin noted that the Housing service was required to become more agile when the pandemic struck – and at that same time there was a rise in single men entering the service. The service found that there were antisocial issues, however, when these men were moved on from the temporary accommodation.

-       Councillor Cutkelvin noted that she attended national forums where “Housing First” and “Psychological Informed Environments” were discussed.

-       Councillor Cutkelvin felt that Services should work to reduce barriers and encourage self-care – and this could include things such as dentistry and haircuts. She asked that all partners around the table input into agile wrap-around services to achieve this.

-       That the Action Plan could make more use of peers and lived experience.

-       That the work undertaken helped people to live well in a house – and this lessened the burden on the services represented by the Board.

-       It was noted that Police were part of Changing Futures but had not engaged in the three meetings to date; there were links, however, to the Street Lifestyle Group which did have Police representation. Members felt that there were strong city centre links but less so moving outwards.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the Board thanks Officers for the report and asked that comments from the meeting are taken into account.

2.    That case studies be brought back to the Board on a future occasion.

3.    That the Board offers continued support to the workstream due to its impact on people and services.

4.    That the Board looks forward to receiving the JSNA when completed.

5.    That the Police representative will speak with Chris Burgin outside the meeting to discuss the comments noted above.