Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed the new members to the Board and apologies for absence were received from Jackie Pederson, Richard Parker and Kathryn Singh. 

The Chair welcomed the new members to the Board stating that the Board had changed over the years but the remit remains to improve the wellbeing of our citizens. The Board takes a broad approach to that and welcomes everyones input and challenge and hopefully that will be, demonstrated today. She stated that last time the Board met, the lockdown had ended and now find ourselves entering a second National Lockdown. She paid tribute to the hard work of key workers throughout lockdown, and commented that she was proud to be a part of the amazing effort in Doncaster that had already been undertaken and continued efforts made to combat the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

(A period not exceeding 15 minutes for questions from members of the public.)

The Board received a question from Glyn Butcher highlighting his concern with regard to the possible rise in suicide particularly around the festive period and asked what support services would be provided and open over the this time.

The Chair thanked Glyn for his question and also thanked him for the work carried out by the People’s Focus Group, the support provided by the Group was vital and is appreciated.

In response, it was, acknowledged by the all representatives on the Board that it was hugely important for services to support the mental and emotional health of residents and appreciated that this applies to people of all ages. The Council along with partner organisations on the Board commented that they are committed to work together and are clear about the support provided to residents particularly around the festive period. Further details of support would be, collated and publicised following the meeting.

There were no declarations reported at the meeting.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 3rd September 2020, be approved, as a correct record.

The Board received an update from Dr Rupert Suckling with regard to the direct health impacts of COVID-19 in Doncaster and the steps been taken to address them. He also commented on the Governments extended measures in relation to assisting businesses and the extension of the furlough scheme.

Dr Suckling wished to state that whilst Doncaster were in a better place than they were 2 weeks ago, the pressure on the health system still remained and stressed that the numbers needed to go much lower to provide the capacity to manage in upcoming winter months. He expressed his personal thanks to everyone who had played their part, and continues to so in this local approach.

Dr David Crichton echoed the comments made and stated that the NHS were currently at level 4 status, which reflected the current pressures upon the service. However, stressed that NHS services remain open as normal and urged anyone who required medical treatment or support, not to hold off from seeking help.

            RESOLVED that the update be noted.

The Board received a presentation by Allan Wiltshire, Head of Policy, Performance and Intelligence providing an update on the development of Doncaster’s Borough Strategy, the long-term plan for the Borough.

Following the presentation, members expressed their views as follows:-

Dr Rupert Suckling stated that the biggest challenge for the Board would be on where to focus its interests. He also acknowledged that the Board was only one of a number of partnership groups involved and it was important to avoid any duplication. Dr David Crichton, reported that discussion had taken place recently within the NHS, which was presented by Lee Tillman and feedback was given to the Council. However, he noted that there were additional slides presented today and wished to take these away for further discussion in the organisation and provide feedback at later date.

Mr Glen Butcher offered his opinion and stated that the Board was there to empower communities and asked what the council or organisation do or stop doing so communities can do things for themselves and perhaps organisations can assist in investing in the assets that are already in the communities. He also made comment with regard to bringing the Board up to date and asked whether the Board had a twitter account where messages can be visible to the public.

James Thomas, Chief Executive, Doncaster Children’s Services Trust echoed the comments made and stated that the Trust were an active partner and commented that the service needs to know where it fits in order to provide that focus.

Louise Robson stated that the Borough Strategy would need reflecting in the Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

Further support was, offered by organisations represented on the Board and those discussions would take place outside of the meeting.

            RESOLVED that

(1)        that the update, be noted; and

(2)        the Chair, Vice-Chair and Dr Suckling to discuss the

next steps prior to further discussion by the Board.

The Board received a presentation from Katie Dowson, Director of Digital for Doncaster CCG and Doncaster Place outlining the work been undertaken on digital inclusion across Doncaster as part of the delivery of the Place Digital Strategy.

It was reported, that as the digital strategy is implemented, it is important that all Doncaster people benefit from having faster and simplified access to our services as well as key information about their health and wellbeing.

It was important to recognise that digital transformation without a plan for digital inclusion will very likely increase inequality:

• Directly by putting additional barriers to equal access to our health & care services and information;

And;

• Indirectly through social and wider determinants of health where individuals might not have access to technologies or have the skills or confidence to use digital methods.

By having a plan for digital inclusion, it will minimise this risk and continue to strive to promote equality through the health and care services offered to Doncaster people.

Its’ also recognised that having a diverse population who may not have access or have intermittent access to technologies or they might lack the skills, confidence or motivation to utilise the digital services we offer. The service wants to address this to enable Doncaster people to get access to the right service, support and information they need. 

It was, reported that immediate plans to get a better understanding of the cohorts where focus is needed to support and encourage new programmes to think about their inclusivity will help to ensure avoidance of widening the gap in inequality. The service will also be working with partners across SY&B ICS to explore digital exclusion, drivers and barriers for change and, how to move forward with inclusive digital transformation schemes on a wider scale.

Following the presentation, the Board welcomed the presentation and we appreciative of the work carried out to date and a number of comments were, made including:-

Cath Witherington, Voluntary Action Doncaster wished to be involved with the project stating that the Group had a lot of background in working with Community Centres which could be a value and was happy to discuss outside of the meeting.

Mr Glyn Butcher thanked Katie for the presentation, which will help so many residents in the community at reducing isolation.

Phil Holmes, Director of Adults, Health and Wellbeing reported that the work carried out within the Care Homes with the introduction of Ipads had been invaluable and showed small investments make a bigger impact.

It was stated that the pandemic had had a huge impact on Adult Mental Health, particularly mentioning the close of libraries having a big impact and the fear that some people have that services will all become digital. The use of the telephone was also highlighted as sometimes this is the only way of communication that is available for some people. The Board recognised that there needed to be a blended approach to digital inclusion as not one size fits all.

Examples  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

The Board received an update from Lucy Robertshaw, Darts and Dr Laura Britten, Teaching Fellow in Sport and Exercise Psychology, University of Leeds on the Dance On programme and, in particular, the findings from research into the health and wellbeing benefits of these dance sessions.

Board members had been asked to view the short films prior to the board meeting as they gave a good overview of the Dance On programme.

It was reported that the Dance On programme is a multidisciplinary team project (One Dance UK, Doncaster Community Arts, Yorkshire Dance, University of Leeds), which offers weekly dance sessions to older adults from socio-economically disadvantaged communities across Yorkshire. Dance On has engaged over 700 older adults, predominantly women (194 in Bradford, 294 in Doncaster, 213 in Leeds) and despite the COVID-19 pandemic continues to engage older adults with an online offer. The research element of the project (which will be presented to the board) has shown that the Dance On programme can lead to improvements in physical activity levels, balance and mobility, subjective wellbeing and a reduction in the fear of falling. The health economics analysis has also shown that the Dance On programme is cost effective.

Following the presentation, comments were sought from the Board.

The Board welcomed the presentation and felt that this project was a real success and was pleasing to see the increase in the level of engagement of which the public were grateful.

In terms of venues to hold the Dance On Sessions, officers sought suggestions from the Board for further Covid secure premises in which to hold more sessions. A number of suggestions were put forward and contact would be made outside of the meeting.

            RESOLVED the presentation and update be noted.

The Board received a presentation from Andy Collins, Public Health Alcohol Co-ordinator aimed at gaining partnership awareness and support for a joint piece of work by Public Health and Huddersfield University to look at Doncaster’s response to parental alcohol misuse on children and facilitate changes to practice if appropriate.

It was reported that the impact of parental alcohol misuse on children is far reaching not only in the short term but long term development health and wellbeing. Estimates showed that there could be over 800 children living in a household where a parent is a dependent drinker in Doncaster. This piece of work with Huddersfield University and the planned workshops will critically reflect on how services identify and respond to parental alcohol misuse and make recommendations for change.

Andy was thanked for the presentation and the following comments were made:-

Riana Nelson, Director of Learning Opportunities and Skills stated that it was correct that in terms of presentation with children at the front door are presenting with issues of which the majority or a big cohort are identified as alcohol misuse which has highlighted the links between mental health, domestic abuse, substance abuse predominantly alcohol. She also went on to say that there needed to be some thinking around developing a whole family working where there is parental substance misuse and making sure those families are identified early in order to provide that support. It was suggested that Andy be invited to present his report at the Children’s Partnership Oversight meeting, where specific discussion can take place on how to promote the services and make sure a comprehensive integrated approach is undertaken across early identification, prevention right up to where people present at a safeguarding arena.

Councillor Nuala Fennelly spoke about her role as Young Carers Champion for Doncaster and advised that it was important to look for the voice of the child.

James Thomas, Chief Executive of Doncaster Children’s Services Trust echoed the comments raise by Riana and Cllr Fennelly and went on to offer the Trust’s support in signposting and promoting of the MOT initiative.

Dr David Crichton stated that there has been an impact on children that are not in school because of this issue. He pointed out that NHS Health Checks had unfortunately, been put to side whilst the NHS have been dealing with the ongoing pandemic. However, he stated that he was hopeful that following this second lockdown he envisaged that services would start up again and would like to offer their support to this initiative.

The Chair stated that a number of suggestions and support had been, offered the Board. Further discussions on that support, would be followed up outside of the meeting.

RESOLVED that the presentation, be noted and the Board supports this piece of work across the Doncaster partnership.

The Board received a presentation from Vanessa Powell Hoyland, Public Health Lead (Well Doncaster) and Cath Witherington, Voluntary Action Doncaster updating the Members on the Voluntary Action Doncaster, Social Isolation Alliance, strategic commissioning, the VCS sector and Anchor institution work as part of the Community Wealth Builder Programme.

Following the presentation, the Board were given, the opportunity to make comments.

Dr Rupert Suckling stated that from the presentation it showed that there was definitely a lot of work going on and it was clear to see that the work officers are doing is helping to understand what is happening within communities. However, he commented that there is a thin line to what is providing support and not taking over but where there are opportunities to bring in additional support, to groups through funding, people need to be able to do that. He hoped that the Board had grasped a good sense of the breadth and depth of the things going on. He advised that the team would be, asked to start codifying some of those issues and presenting a more formal strategy/action plan at a future meeting.

Cath Witherington, Voluntary Action Doncaster gave the Board a brief description about the Group and the work they carry out.

            RESOLVED that the community led health and wealth work; be noted.