Agenda and draft minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and invited all attendees to introduce themselves.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Sarah Smith, Riana Nelson Executive Director Children, Young People and Families, Dan Swaine Executive Director Place, Lucy Robertshaw Health and Social Care Forum representative and Laura Sherburn Chief Executive Primary Care Doncaster.

There were no Chair’s announcements.

There were no items where the press and public were to be excluded from the meeting.

There were no declarations of interested made.

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

There were no public questions.

RESOLVED that:  The minutes of the Health and Wellbeing Board meeting held on 5^th September 2024, were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair, subject to an apology for absence from Toby Lewis Chief Executive RDaSH being added.

The Board gave consideration to the Area of Focus:  Close the women’s and child’s health gap.  To accompany the report presented the Service Director  for Children, Young People and Families provided an overview of the background to the areas of focus and key findings in Doncaster.  He reminded the Board of the session on 5^th September, 2024 where Board Members heard a range of perspectives that highlighted the current challenges, shared commitment and existing work programmes. 

The large workload to be undertaken was acknowledged by the Board, to actively address this priority.

With regard to recommendation number 5, set out in the report a Board Member queried how periodic progress would be reported and noted that it would be undertaken by a mixture of consideration of data but also to hear the impact made from across communities.  It was also outlined that recommendations 1 and 2 within the paper would tease out impact through the Thrive model.  To achieve improvement and success it was noted that a trauma informed approach would be undertaken to support everyone, including staff.

With regard to the use of pooled budgets the Board was of the opinion that this would only be used if the scheme was thought to be beneficial but stressed that it would not be appropriate to be used for all programmes.  It was therefore agreed that recommendation 1 on page 8 of the report be amended to read:

“Revisit the ambition to consolidate our collective resource for children, young people and families including a review of medium and long term investment into prevention focused interventions.  This includes the consideration of pooled budgets where the benefits can be demonstrated.”

With regard to confidence that enough support was in place to address the future for women’s health and it not being an extension of children’s health, it was confirmed that a women’s needs assessment had been undertaken identifying a number of ways the issue would be approached.  It was suggested that an update report on women’s health be presented alongside an update on this issue, Close the women’s and child’s health gap.

RESOLVED that:

1.     The Position Statement, be agreed and endorsed;

2.     Three sponsors for the area of focus, be agreed and endorsed;

3.     Where applicable take action on the commitments and report back progress at the Health and Wellbeing Board at a future date;  and

4.     The following recommendation from page 8 of the report be amended to read:

“Revisit the ambition to consolidate our collective resource for children, young people and families including a review of medium and long term investment into prevention focused interventions.  This includes the consideration of pooled budgets where the benefits can be demonstrated.”

The Director of Public Health presented a report requesting the Health and Wellbeing Board to designate up to three sponsors to progress each of the three areas of focus specified in the revised 2024 Health and Wellbeing Strategy.  She also highlighted the Sponsor responsibilities and tasks for each named sponsor, as were set out in the report.

The work undertaken since the Board’s development session on 5^th September, 2024 was commended by the Chair, with the spread of organisations and skilled individuals to lead the work, being highlighted.  It was outlined that appointed sponsors would need to adopt co-production values to ensure the voice of communities was heard.

A Board member aired caution, and suggested that Board members who had not been appointed as a sponsor be used to challenge the work undertaken.  This was supported by the Board.

RESOLVED that:

1.    The discussion and feedback on the Sponsor Role document, be noted;  and

2.    The three sponsors for the areas of focus as detailed below, be agreed:-

Area of Focus – Improve the Experience of Ageing

·       Phil Holmes

·       Toby Lewis

·       Lucy Robertshaw

      Area of Focus – Close the Gap in Women’s and Child Health

·         Riana Nelson

·         Nabeel Alsindi

·         Toni Illman

     Area of Focus – Create Healthy Places

·       Rachael Leslie

·       James Wood

·       Dan Swaine

A report was presented to the Board outlining the mandatory requirement for Health and Wellbeing Boards to refresh the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) every three years.  It was noted that the next PHA publication was due on 1^st October 2025. 

The prescribed process and key deliverable milestones were set out in the report and highlighted to Board Members for their consideration.  It was noted that the process had previously been undertaken in-house but the report sought to commission a specialist PNA provider to co-ordinate and produce a new PNA.  In response to a question it was clarified, for example, that the PNA was used as evidence when making decisions in relation to the closure or relocation of pharmacies.  Concern relating to retention and recruitment of pharmacists was also noted as an issue nationally.

RESOLVED that:  The delegation of power to the PNA steering group to undertake the PNA refresh for 2025 and for them to sign off the 60 day consultation draft over the summer months with a view to bringing a final draft to the September Health and Wellbeing Board for consideration and sign off before publication on 1^st October 2025, be agreed