To receive verbal updates (5 minutes) on each of the five priorities:-
i) Improve outcomes for children and young people.
ii) Reduce premature mortality.
iii) Support independence.
iv) Improve mental health and resilience.
v) Focus on the wider determinants of health through effective deployment of resources, partnership and community working.
Minutes:
The Board were informed that a full report on the Strategy would be submitted to the March meeting. Verbal updates were received on each of the five priorities below:-
i) Improve outcomes for children and young people.
Work was continuing on initiatives such as the family support programme and a new sexual health service. A number of new initiatives for healthy eating in early years settings and in schools, and programmes to encourage food growing were also planned.
A strategic group to progress an integrated approach to readiness had been identified. Initiatives with early literacy were progressing and a shift in focus of resources and the deployment of child centre teachers to years 2 and 3 had been put in place and work was continuing with parents and families to give support to help them to support their children’s early learning. A pilot had started in the south of the City and a review report would be issued in 6 months’ time.
ii) Reduce premature mortality.
Progress had been made on all areas. Smoking cessation programme was working well in fairly challenging conditions with impact of e-cigarettes. A recovery plan was in place which was filling the gap which existed earlier in the year. A lifestyle support hub had been designed and commissioned with effect from April 2015 which would make it easier to enable GPs and other health professionals to refer people into lifestyle support programmes. There had been a significant decrease in alcohol consumption and alcohol related hospital admissions and various awareness campaigns were ongoing. Despite the improvements, Leicester was still above the national average for alcohol related admissions.
Clinical leadership was progressing on improving education of people with cardio-vascular conditions, in particular, and more long term conditions, in general, by improving diagnosis through NHS Healthchecks. 10 GP mentors were delivering 600 training sessions per year to other GP practices on cardio-vascular disease, lung disease, diabetes, and end of life care to increase the primary care skills in these areas. 500 primary care clinicians had received atrial-fibrillation and heart failure training and changes in improvements in clinical outcomes were now beginning to be seen.
iii) Support independence.
Work was progressing through the Better Care Fund to support Older People with services around improving integration and crisis response services for the frail and elderly. A £5m award from the Big Lottery has been made to the voluntary sector for 21 projects to combat loneliness and isolation. There has also been a successful bid for hospital to home services to support people for early discharge, which also includes food and home safety checks. The Adult Social Care Commission was looking at ‘ageing well in the city’ with a view to developing an ‘Older Person’s Strategy’ as part of the aging well strategy. This will bring together a number of partners on an inter-generational approach. The Social Care Act would come into force on 1 April 2015 and the council would be writing to carers to offer them the support provided under the Act. This will increase the number of assessments carried out and increase the opportunities for people to receive services. A carers’ event had been organised at Curve which would feed into the Carers’ Strategy.
Dementia was one of the work-streams in the Better Care Together Programme and work was progressing to improve the diagnosis rates and the support given to people with dementia. The diagnosis rate in Leicester was currently 67% compared to the national average of 48% and Leicester was on target to reach a diagnosis rate of 72% by the end of the year. The Alzheimer’s Society had secured funding for befriending services in the City specifically targeted on dementia.
iv) Improve mental health and resilience.
A workshop was held on 3 February 2015 to look at issues around gaps in service for adults, children and those in crisis. This looked at the redesigned pathway to support people currently in hospital to enable an early transfer to community care, through changes in the LPT. It also looked at the way that children with mental health issues were supported and how to build in resilience from an early age and provide more education to stop children’s mental health suffering as that can lead into issues in adulthood. All the issues considered would be fed into the Joint Integrated Commissioning Board so that these could be addressed.
v) Focus on the wider determinants of health through effective deployment of resources, partnership and community working.
Public Health made a detailed submission to the Local Issues and Options Consultation Document on the Local Plan and as a result discussions are now underway to devise a model of health impact assessments for developments in the City.
The proposed Air Quality Action Plan for the City would be published soon for consultation purposes. Health aspects were now central to the Plan rather than the previous focus on transport issues. All interested parties were encouraged to look at the document and respond to the consultation, so that the final plan was ambitious and robust and based upon a solid public health narrative.
The recent announcement on standardisation of the packaging on cigarettes was welcomed as the Council had lobbied for some time for this to be achieved.
The Mental Health Workshops represented a useful model of how the Board was able to bring stakeholders together to discuss issues of concern and shape ideas and make a difference to how services are delivered and configured.
A Health and Wellbeing Survey was initiated last week in the City on a representative sample population of 2,500, the results of the responses to a number of questions to collect health and social economic data would be available to use in May/June for various needs assessments.
RESOLVED:
That the update reports be received and noted.